WALES

Economic Inactivity

Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what steps have been taken to reduce economic inactivity in  (a) Bridgend and  (b) Wales in the last five years.

Peter Hain: There have been numerous UK and Welsh Assembly Government initiatives that have helped to reduce economic inactivity in Bridgend and Wales, including the Pathways to Work project, piloted in Bridgend and Rhondda Cynon Taf in October 2003.

Economic Inactivity

Martyn Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what steps have been taken to reduce economic inactivity in  (a) Clwyd South and  (b) Wales in the last five years.

Peter Hain: There have been numerous UK and Welsh Assembly Government initiatives that have helped to reduce economic inactivity in Clwyd South and Wales.

Unemployment Trends

Hywel Francis: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what unemployment trends were in  (a) Aberavon and  (b) Wales in 2005-06.

Peter Hain: Throughout 2005 and 2006, the unemployment rate in Wales remained low by historic standards.

Post Office Network

Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State of Trade and Industry on the post office network in Wales; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Ainger: My right hon. Friend has regular discussions with the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry to discuss a range of issues including the Post Office network.

Cross-border Hospital Admissions

Peter Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what recent discussions he has had with the First Minister of the Welsh Assembly Government on cross-border hospital patient admissions.

Nick Ainger: I regularly meet the Assembly Minister for Health and Social Services on a range of matters, including those on cross-border hospital patient admissions.

Train Services

Si�n James: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what recent discussions he has had with First Great Western on train services in Wales.

Nick Ainger: My right hon. Friend and I have discussed with First Great Western their train services in Wales on a number of occasions.

RAF St. Athan

Tobias Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what recent discussions he has had with colleagues in the Ministry of Defence on the future of RAF St Athan.

Nick Ainger: My right hon. Friend and I have regular discussions with Defence Ministers on a range of issues including the current and future use of RAF St. Athan.

RAF St. Athan

Philip Dunne: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what recent discussions he has had with Ministry of Defence Ministers on the future of RAF St. Athan.

Nick Ainger: My right hon. Friend and I have regular discussions with Defence Ministers on a range of issues including the current and future use of RAF St. Athan.

Convergence Funding

Alun Michael: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what assessment he has made of the effects on the Welsh economy of the application of convergence funding over the next six years.

Nick Ainger: West Wales and the Valleys will receive around 1.3 billion in convergence funding over the next seven years.
	This will build on the success of the Objective One programmes over the past seven years.

Council Tax Revaluation

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many appeals the Valuation Office Agency has processed in relation to the council tax revaluation in Wales; how many were allowed  (a) in whole and  (b) in part; and how many appeals are outstanding.

Peter Hain: As at 31 December 2006 the Valuation Office Agency had received 18,066 formal appeals against the 2005 council tax lists. As at the same date 15,300 had been settled, of which 10,190 resulted in an amendment to the council tax band.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Afghanistan

Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development when the rebuilding of the Kajaki Dam in Afghanistan will begin; and how long reconstruction is estimated to take.

Hilary Benn: Work on the Kajaki Dam project is due to re-start this week. It is the US Government's biggest project in Afghanistan and they judge it will take three years until completion.

Afghanistan

Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what funding and resources his Department will provide for the reconstruction of the Kajaki Dam in Afghanistan.

Hilary Benn: This project is entirely funded by the US Government. At US Government request, the UK military will be facilitating security. The UK may fund smaller projects in the vicinity of the dam as part of a stabilisation programme.

Africa

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much money has been allocated to clean water initiatives in Africa in each of the last four years.

Hilary Benn: Estimated total DFID water and sanitation related expenditure in Africa through all funding mechanisms, including DFID's share of multilateral spend, 2000-01 to 2003-04.
	
		
			million 
			 2000-01 56.4 
			 2001-02 52.4 
			 2002-03 45.6 
			 2003-04 46.1 
		
	
	As we adopt an integrated approach to water, sanitation and hygiene promotion, it is not therefore possible to extract from these total figures how much is specific to clean water initiatives.
	Building on the 2003-04 expenditure figure I have committed to double spending on water supply and sanitation sectors in Africa to 95 million a year in 2007-08, and to more than double funding again to 200 million a year by 2010-11.
	The international donor community as a whole, including DFID, other bilaterals and multilateral, committed the following to water and sanitation:
	
		
			  $ million 
			   North Africa  Sub-Saharan Africa  Total 
			 2001 335 768 1,103 
			 2002 134 483 616 
			 2003 180 748 928 
			 2004 340 1,501 1,842 
			  Source: OECD Development Assistance Committee.

Deforestation

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what initiatives he has undertaken to combat deforestation; what discussions he has had with developing countries on this issue; and if he will make a statement.

Gareth Thomas: Initiatives undertaken by the Department for International Development that have a bearing on deforestation include: a range of bilateral forestry projects with countries in Africa and Asia; the funding of research undertaken by centres of the Consultative Group on Agricultural Research; and the funding of activities by non-governmental organisations.
	Discussions with developing countries about deforestation have taken place bilaterally and in the United Nations Forum on Forests and the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation. The Government are currently in discussion with developing countries on the subject of avoided deforestation and climate change in the negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and bilaterally, both at the ministerial and the official level.

Developing Countries

Anne Snelgrove: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent assessment he has made of the cost and benefits of water privatisation in developing countries.

Hilary Benn: The track record of the private sector in delivering water in developing countries has been mixed which is why DFID is interested in what works. And what works varies from place to place so the public versus private debate is not a straightforward one. The UN Human Development Report recognises that the most obvious lesson from any review of public and private provision is that there are no hard and fast cross-country blueprints for success.
	Successful public water utilities include ONEA in Burkina Faso, SANASA in Brazil and the National Water and Sewerage Corporation in Uganda (NWSC). The NWSC provides consultancy and advisory services to other utilities in East Africa. The formation of this business unit has been partly due to the strength of the private sector environment in Uganda. On the other hand the UN Human Development Report also notes that many publicly owned utilities are failing the poor, combining inefficiency and lack of accountability in management with inequity in financing and pricing.
	In Cochabamba, Bolivia, the failure of private sector water provision led to rioting in the streets and the cancellation of the contract with the private provider. In Senegal on the other hand, private sector involvement helped create 81,000 new water connections and increased the country's water supply by 10 per cent. between 1996 and 2003.
	The failure and success of both public and private utilities depends on more than ownership structure. Factors such as the level of inherited debt, the quality of regulation and the engagement of civil society are highly significant. The conclusion that DFID draws is to support what works best in each context in for the world's poorest people.
	DFID's policy is thatwhere we canwe respond to requests from developing country governments for assistance to help improve the efficiency of their water utilities. Usually this involves DFID providing support to public bodies. In some cases, where the developing country government has a policy for participation of the private sector in service delivery, DFID may be asked to advise on how this might best be done.
	Nevertheless, the public sector continues to play the leading role in providing water and sanitation throughout the world. This is why most of DFID's aid (about 95 per cent. of our bilateral country programme expenditure on water and sanitation) supports the delivery of water and sanitation through governments, not-for-profit or humanitarian agencies.
	Assessments of public and private provision have been completed by a range of international and research organisations including the World Bank. These studies (including a DFID-funded assessment by WaterAid of the impact of private sector involvement on the poor) reinforce DFID's view that the polarised debate about public and private utility ownership fails to grasp the complexity of the current situation. DFID believes that different approaches work best in different contexts.

Euro-Mediterranean Partnership

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much aid the  (a) UK and  (b) EU has given to third country parties to the Euro-Mediterranean partnership in 2006.

Gareth Thomas: Official figures for 2006 will not be available until December of this year. Figures are therefore provided for 2005.
	
		
			  Official development assistance to third country parties to the Euro-Mediterranean partnership, 2005 
			   million 
			  Recipient  United Kingdom  EC 
			 Algeria 0.00 31.33 
			 Egypt 3.40 100.57 
			 Israel 0.00 0.00 
			 Jordan 3.33 20.46 
			 Lebanon 0.30 24.04 
			 Morocco 0.00 161.23 
			 Palestinian adm. areas 12.94 113.71 
			 Syria 0.08 18.08 
			 Tunisia 11.68 53.16 
			 Turkey -0.59 215.63 
			  Note: Data extracted from OECD.Stat.

Iraq

Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what support his Department is providing to strengthen trades unions in Iraq.

Hilary Benn: Under Saddam Hussein's regime, trades unions were part of the Ba'ath Party machinery and had very little independence. After the fall of his regime, trades unions effectively collapsed. Trades unions in Iraq are therefore relatively recently established. DFID provides support to trades unions through our Civil Society Fund (CSF) programme. There are two main aspects to this assistance:
	training trades union leaders; and
	providing a resource centre for trades unions.
	DFID-funded training for trades union leaders is conducted through the UK public services trade union, UNISON. The aim is to contribute to the social and economic stability of Iraq by building the capacity of trades unions through the training of a new generation of union leaders. Training has focused on the role of trades unions in the workplace and society; negotiating collective agreements; union organisation; and women's involvement in the unions.
	DFID support for a resource centre for trades unions in Baghdad has been undertaken with the International Centre for Trades Union Rights (ICTUR). The purpose of this project is to establish an independent NGO office to provide information, technical support services, expertise and legal advice to Iraqi trades unions and act as a centre for open discussions between trades unionists and the legal, academic and NGO communities. The centre studies and promotes basic principles of trades union and labour rights throughout Iraq and aims to influence government policies on labour rights and standards.

Palestine

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much bilateral aid his Department gave to the Palestinian Territories in 2005-06.

Hilary Benn: Bilateral Aid from the Department for International Development (DFID) to the Palestinian Territories in 2005-06 was 15.058 million The full breakdown of Bilateral Aid is published in Table 12.3 of 'Statistics on International Development 2001-02 and 2005-06; a copy of which is available in the Library.
	In addition, DFID gave 14.985 million of Multilateral Aid to the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). UNRWA provides basic services for Palestinian refugees in the occupied Palestinian territory and elsewhere in the region.

Portland Trust

Mark Francois: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development 
	(1)  what payments have been made by his Department to the Portland Trust since 2003;
	(2)  if he will list the payments made by his Department to the Portland Trust since 2003.

Hilary Benn: The Department for International Development has not made any payments to the Portland Trust since 2003.

Portland Trust

Mark Francois: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development 
	(1)  on what dates his Department met representatives of the Portland Trust in the last three years; and what the purpose was of each meeting;
	(2)  how many  (a) members of the Portland Trust and  (b) officials in his Department took part in his meeting of 11 October 2005 with the Portland Trust; and what the purpose of the meeting was.

Hilary Benn: Officials from the Department for International Development have met with the Portland Trust on a number of occasions over the past three years and I met representatives of the Trust earlier this month. These have included bilateral meetings, meetings with other government departments, and meetings as part of wider discussions with other agencies to discuss ways of supporting economic development in the occupied Palestinian territory. As was the case with previous administrations, it is not the Government's policy to provide details of all such meetings.

Water Access

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what support his Department is providing to governments of third-world countries to help them provide clean water to their people; and if he will make a statement.

Gareth Thomas: DFID will double its commitment to water and sanitation in Africawhere the Millennium Development Goal targets on water and sanitation are most off-trackto 95 million a year by 2007-08. We will then more than double funding again to 200 million a year by 2010-11.
	In November, DFID published its global call to action on water and sanitation. This is our encouragement to developing country governments and to other donors to do more. It highlights the need for all of us to invest more in water and sanitation, to ensure that this money is spent effectively and fairly, and to put the right structures in place to make this happen.
	For this to happen governments and the international community must organise themselves better and be held to account more effectively. To make this work we have proposed that there should be one annual report to monitor progress towards achieving the water and sanitation Millennium Development Goal targets and one high-level global annual meeting to agree action. At the country level there should be for water and sanitation one national plan, one co-ordinating group and one lead United Nations body.
	November also marked the recognition by the UK Government that safe and affordable water is a right for all. The right to water sets a global standard. It places a legal obligation on governments to ensure that everyone has equal access to water and it gives greater legitimacy to people's demands for water. It means that water services are not a matter of policy preference or charity but a legal requirement.

World Bank and the IMF

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what  (a) percentage and  (b) amount of the UK's aid budget is channelled through the (i) World Bank and (ii) International Monetary Fund.

Hilary Benn: The UK provides core financial support to the International Development Association, the arm of the World Bank which provides grants and concessional loans to the world's poorest countries. Donors pledge support to IDA for a three-year period. In February 2005, the UK pledged 1.43 billion to the fourteenth replenishment of IDA. This was comprised of (i) a core contribution of 1.33 billion, to be paid in three equal instalments of 443 million in 2006-07, 2007-08 and 2008-09; and (ii) an additional contribution of 100 million contingent on progress on harmonisation and conditionally, to be paid in two equal instalments of 50 million in 2006-07 and 2007-08. Payment is by promissory note. Expenditure is charged to DFID's budget when the note is deposited with the IDA but notes will be encashed over a nine-year period. The UK will therefore spend 493 million on IDA 14 in the current financial year. This represents approximately 10 per cent. of DFID's total budget in 2006-07.
	As part of our IDA 14 replenishment package, the UK also set aside a further 250 million to support the World Bank in responding to specific needs arising from the enhanced focus in 2005 on Africa and the achievement of the MDGs. We committed 200 million to the Africa Catalytic Growth Fund (ACGF)part of the Bank's Africa Action Plan resulting from Gleneaglesand 50 million to the Education Fast Track Initiative (FTI), whose Catalytic Fund and Education Programme Development Fund are administered by the Bank. Payments commenced in 2006-07, when we expect to spend 30 million on the ACGF and 70 million on the FTI (20 million from the initial FTI commitment plus 50 million from an additional commitment of 100 million made in the autumn of 2005).
	The Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI) provides 100 per cent. relief on the debts owed by qualifying Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) to the IDA. The UK and other donors are making additional contributions to IDA to offset IDA reduced debt service receipts. To date the UK has paid 26.85 million in additional contributions.
	The UK is also a major contributor to other trust funds administered by the World Bank Group (mainly IDA, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the International Finance Corporation). Trust funds cover a wide range of activities. They can be used for the World Bank to provide technical assistance, advice and research, as well as supporting post conflict countries or co-financing projects. Some Trust funds support the Bank's own development operations and work programmes. Others support broad global initiativessuch as the Global Fund to Combat AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; the Global Environment Facility; and the HIPC Initiativefor which the Bank manages resources on behalf of the international community. Contributions to individual Trust Funds are normally determined and financed by the DFID Division with responsibility for the relevant country/regional/sector programme or policy issue. Details of expenditure through World Bank Trust Funds are not held centrally.
	The UK has agreed to contribute up to 50 million to the IMF's Exogenous Shocks Facility which helps poor countries to cope better with external shocks, such as an increase in oil prices. The first contribution of 10 million was paid in 2005-06. Under the MDRI, the cost of cancelling the IMF debts of eligible countries will largely be met from the IMF's own resources. However, donors agreed to make a contribution towards these costs. The UK paid 13.728 million in 2005-06. The UK also provided 780,737 to IMF in 2005-06 to deliver technical assistance to a number of countries in Africa. Total UK expenditure of 24.5 million on IMF in 2005-06 represented 0.37 per cent. of UK aid expenditure.

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Banana Imports

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of complaints from  (a) Ecuador,  (b) Colombia and  (c) Panama against the EU to the World Trade Organisation on the European banana import regime; and what steps he expects to be taken as a consequence of these complaints;
	(2)  what recent assessment he has made of the effect of the EU banana import regime discriminates on the Latin American agricultural sector.

Barry Gardiner: In order to ensure compatibility with WTO obligations and to respect the 'Understandings' reached with the US and Ecuador in 2001, the EU moved to a tariff-only regime for imports of bananas with effect from 1 January 2006. I am aware that certain Latin American suppliers maintain that the EU tariff of 176/tonne is too high, even though the quota ceiling on their potential exports was removed as part of the new import regime. I am also aware that some African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) suppliers consider that the tariff is too low to maintain their access to the Community market. Following introduction of the new import arrangements, the Trade Minister of Norway was appointed as facilitator and mediator of an independent panel monitoring imports of all bananas into the EU. The Commission has stated that the findings of this independent panel will allow changes to be made if appropriate.

Bovine Animal Seizures

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs for what reason a police presence was deemed necessary during the attempt to seize bovine animal UK OX0564 00177 on 10 January 2007.

Ben Bradshaw: A pre-arranged joint State Veterinary Service (SVS) and Trading Standards visit took place on 9 October 2006. Regrettably, during this visit, both inspectors were subjected to intimidation and verbal abuse by a hostile group of protestors. The protestors intentionally obstructed both inspectors and prevented them from gaining access to the field where bovine animal UK OX0564 00177 was located.
	A pre-arranged joint SVS and Trading Standards visit also took place on 24 October 2006. During this visit the owner refused to cooperate fully and stated that he would not permit the animal's removal.
	As there had been public disorder and intentional obstruction during the pre-arranged visit of 9 October 2006, there was an unacceptable risk of public disorder and obstruction at the removal visit. This risk had to be managed and the police were consulted. The SVS and Trading Standards decided that they could not safely attempt the removal of the animal without a police presence. This was put to the police, who agreed to support them.

Bovine Animal Seizures

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the cost was to  (a) his Department and  (b) the State Veterinary Service of the attempt to seize bovine animal UK OX0564 00177 on 10 January 2007.

Ben Bradshaw: This was a State Veterinary Service (SVS) operation. The planning, preparation, office work and time at the attempted removal visit totalled 72 man-hours. Including travel costs, the total cost to the SVS was around 3,500.

Bovine Animal Seizures

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs for what reason notification was not given to the owners of the attempt to seize bovine animal UK OX0564 00177 on 10 January 2007.

Ben Bradshaw: The owners of bovine animal UK OX0564 00177 have maintained an unwillingness to co-operate with the State Veterinary Service (SVS) and Trading Standards over the animal's removal. On previous visits inspectors have been subjected to obstruction and verbal abuse. To limit and manage the risk of public disorder and intentional obstruction, pre-notification was not given.

Bovine Animal Seizures

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions  (a) his Department and  (b) the State Veterinary Service had with local police prior to the attempt to seize bovine animal UK OX0564 00177 on 10 January 2007.

Ben Bradshaw: The State Veterinary Service (SVS) and Trading Standards considered that there was an unacceptable risk of public disorder and intentional obstruction during the removal visit. To address this risk, the police were consulted on the proposed operation. The police advised the SVS and Trading Standards on public order and obstruction. This advice was taken into account in the planning. Joint planning meetings were held on 3 January 2007 and 8 January 2007 at which the SVS, Trading Standards and police were present. There was no contact between DEFRA and the police.

British Waterways

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what grants were received by British Waterways in each of the last five years, broken down by main budget headings.

Barry Gardiner: I have placed the funding history of British Waterways in the Library of the House.

Common Agricultural Policy

Denis MacShane: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much was paid in sterling to British farmers under the Common Agricultural Policy in each of the last three years.

Barry Gardiner: The following table shows payments made through CAP schemes and rural development programmes to farmers in the United Kingdom for the period 2003 to 2005 as recorded in the production and income account of the economic account for agriculture. They exclude payments made through the over thirty month scheme, compensation for losses due to animal disease and capital transfers.
	
		
			  Direct payments made through CAP schemes and rural development programmes to farmers in the United Kingdomshows payments after deduction for modulation where appropriate 
			   million 
			   Calendar years 
			   2003  2004  2005 (provisional) 
			  Crop subsidies
			 Arable area payments (except set- aside) 924 901 0 
			 Arable Area Payments on set-aside 177 129  
			 Other crop subsidies(1) 3 12 11 
			 
			  Livestock subsidies:
			 Beef Special Premium(2) 238 266  
			 Suckler Cow Premium(3) 208 230  
			 Slaughter Premium 136 156  
			 Extensification Payment Scheme 145 154  
			 Beef National Envelope 34 36  
			 Scottish Beef Calf Scheme   20 
			 Sheep Annual Premium 276 300  
			 Sheep National Envelope 10 17  
			 Dairy subsidies(4)  108  
			 Single Payment Scheme   2,375 
			 
			  Rural Development Programmes:
			 Less favoured areas support schemes(5) 163 153 144 
			 
			  Agri-environment schemes:
			 Countryside Stewardship and Arable Stewardship Schemes 71 104 114 
			 Countryside Premium and Rural Stewardship Schemes 13 11 10 
			 Stewardship Schemes 13 11 10 
			 Tir Cymen and Tir Gofal 17 21 24 
			 Countryside Management Scheme 3 6 3 
			 Organic Aid and Organic Farming Schemes 21 14 10 
			 Environmentally Sensitive Areas Scheme 81 82 79 
			 Nitrate Sensitive Areas Scheme
			 Other (e) 4 3 3 
			 (1) CAP hops and herbage seeds support; hemp and flax aid; oilseed rape and linseed support; protein crop premium; area aid for nuts; energy crops aid  (2) Includes extensification premium and deseasonalisation premium (where applicable).  (3) Includes agri-monetary compensation; dairy premium and additional dairy premium.  (4) Tir Mynydd in Wales, less favoured area compensatory allowance scheme in Northern Ireland, less favoured areas support scheme in Scotland and hill farm allowance in England.  (5) Includes Moorland, habitat and countryside access farming schemes; entry level pilot scheme.

Consultants

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs which 10 consultancy fees charged to his Department since May 1997 were the most expensive.

Barry Gardiner: The Department came into being in June 2001. From information held centrally, the top 10 management and business consultancy fees charged to the Department since financial year 2002-03 are as follows:
	
		
			  2002-03 
			  Vendor name  Expenditure () 
			 PA Consulting Group 5,281,766.67 
			 Logica UK 3,781,131.46 
			 Hedra Consortium 1,240,476.13 
			 Cornwell Management Consultants plc 915,374.51 
			 Deloitte Consulting 705,000.00 
			 Risk Solutions 668,340.95 
			 IBM United Kingdom Ltd 481,751.78 
			 QI Consulting 296,270.41 
			 PKF 238,366.33 
			 Amtec Consulting Group 223,521.10 
			 Total 13,831,999.34 
		
	
	
		
			  2003-04 
			  Vendor name  Expenditure () 
			 PA Consulting Group 6,899,587.19 
			 Deloitte MCS Ltd 2,679,518.23 
			 Hedra Consortium 2,090,149.22 
			 Cornwell Management Consultants plc 2,057,281.94 
			 IBM United Kingdom Ltd 1,505,892.18 
			 QI Consulting 891,162.55 
			 Accenture (UK) Ltd 612,378.25 
			 Logica UK Ltd 530,230.50 
			 Towers Perrin 463,205.17 
			 HDRA Consultants 455,462.82 
			 Total 18,184,868.05 
		
	
	
		
			  2004-05 
			  Vendor name  Expenditure () 
			 PA Consulting Group 6,250,090.00 
			 Tribal Yale 3,757,205.00 
			 Hedra Consortium 2,954,821.00 
			 Deloitte MCS Ltd 2,426,806.00 
			 LogicaCMG 855,605.00 
			 KPMG 769,920.00 
			 Cornwell Management Consultants 600,953.00 
			 Towers Perrin 591,529.00 
			 Accenture 525.021.00 
			 Logica UK Ltd. 421,963.00 
			 Total 19,153,913.00 
		
	
	
		
			  2005-06 
			  Vendor name  Expenditure () 
			 Hedra Consortium 5,229,558.43 
			 Tribal Yale 4,852,476.88 
			 PA Consulting 4,700,388.39 
			 LogicaCMG 3,063,782.26 
			 Deloitte MCS Ltd 2,998,213.46 
			 Cornwell Management Consultants 1,220,361.87 
			 KPMG 876,387.10 
			 Logica UK Ltd 799,967.61 
			 Ernst and Young 215,399.83 
			 Accenture 107,088.33 
			 Total 24,063,624.16 
		
	
	
		
			  2006-07 (April 2006 to September 2006) 
			  Vendor name  Expenditure () 
			 PA Consulting 2,263,616.49 
			 Hedra Consortium 1,976,474.48 
			 Tribal Yale 1,432,303.91 
			 LogicaCMG 825,239.48 
			 KPMG 606,590.43 
			 Corven 557,331.76 
			 Cornwell Management Consultants 302,642.45 
			 Deloitte MCS Ltd 279,747.32 
			 Ernst and Young 63,767.26 
			 Deloitte and Touche 39,894.78 
			 Total 8,347,608.36

Departmental Staff

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many value for money exercises on the use of  (a) management consultants and  (b) professional advisers have been conducted by his Department in each of the last five years for which information is available; and if he will make a statement.

Barry Gardiner: Public procurement policy and practice requires all contracts to be let against the criterion of value for money. Each client commissioning management consultants and professional advisers is required to comply with this policy and practice. Separately, the Department is undertaking a root and branch review of its expenditure on consultancy and professional services and, as part of this work, is considering the NAO study on the public sector's use of consultants published recently. As part of this study, publicly available, the NAO worked with MORI to carry out a survey of public sector consultancy expenditure based on information from Departments, including DEFRA.

Departmental Travel

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what his Department's expenditure was on foreign travel, including accommodation, in 2005-06; and what his predecessor Department's expenditure on foreign travel, including accommodation, was in 1996-97.

Barry Gardiner: Defra came into being in June 2001. Information on its predecessor Department's expenditure on foreign travel including accommodation could be provided only at disproportionate cost. From information held centrally, the Department's expenditure on foreign travel and accommodation in 2005-06 is as follows for the core-Department:
	
		
			
			 Foreign air travel 2,595,764 
			 Foreign rail travel 1,047,511 
			 Foreign accommodation 788,789 
		
	
	Since 1999, the Government have published an annual list of all visits overseas undertaken by Cabinet Ministers costing 500 or more during each financial year. Copies of these lists are available in the Library of the House. Information on the number of officials accompanying Ministers on overseas visits is included in the list. All Ministers' travel arrangements are in accordance with the arrangements for official travel set out in chapter 10 of the Ministerial Code, and the accompanying guidance document Travel by Ministers.

Dog Breeders

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what guidance he has issued on the meaning of the term professional dog breeder in relation to EC Council Regulations 1/2005.

Ben Bradshaw: Council Regulation (EC) No. 1/2005, on the protection of animals during transport and related operations, applies to the transport of live vertebrate animals that takes place in connection with an economic activity. The term 'economic activity' is not defined in the regulation but my Department has provided a view on its meaning in guidance, which is available on the Defra website at:
	http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/welfare/farmed/transport/eu-transportreg.htm.
	In this guidance, we have taken the view that the regulation applies to animals transported as part of a business or commercial activity that aims to achieve financial gain, whether direct or indirect, for any person or company involved in the transport. Commercial pet breeders are given as an example of such transport.
	However, there are those who keep animals as a hobby, take them to shows, and occasionally breed from them with any surplus animals often being sold. We would not consider this to be economic where the income source does not exceed the expenses of the hobby and the primary purpose is for pleasure or competition and not as part of a business.

Farm-based Education Programmes

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what support his Department gives  (a) directly and  (b) through its agencies to farm-based educational programmes; and what mechanisms are in place to co-ordinate his Department's work in this area with (i) the Department for Education and Skills and (ii) the devolved authorities. [R]

Barry Gardiner: Defra is committed to developing the understanding young people have of both where and how their food is produced. Defra provides approximately 1 million per year in payments to farmers who provide educational visits to their farms by schools, colleges and special interest groups, free of charge, as part of their Countryside Stewardship or Environmental Stewardship (Higher Level) agri-environment scheme agreements. These schemes are the single largest provider of farm visits in the country with approximately 1,000 farms in England taking part.
	Countryside Educational Visits Accreditation Scheme (CEVAS) training is advocated to all farmers providing Stewardship educational access visits. This provides training and an annual farm health and safety inspection for providers of farm education visits. This enables teachers to choose farms safe in the knowledge that the farmers have the right skills to give the children an interesting educational experience in a secure environment. Defra will provide 146,000 amounting to 50 per cent. of the funding for CEVAS during 2007-08.
	Defra is providing 60,000 in 2006-07 to Farming and Countryside Education (FACE), which helps young people learn more about food, farming and a sustainable countryside. Defra also gives a 50,000 grant to the National Federation of Young Farmers Clubs each year to support a range of educational activities.
	In addition, my officials and ministerial colleagues have worked closely with our counterparts at the Department for Education and Skills, the Department of Health, and other stakeholders, to support the industry-led Year of Food and Farming. This initiative aims to reconnect children and young people with food, farming and the countryside. It will run through the academic year September 2007 to July 2008. A series of national, regional and local events, and learning resources will be supplemented by a wide range of other activities for children to participate in, including visits to food and farm businesses. Defra will provide 30,000 of funding for this financial year to support the start-up phase of the project and further funding to support communications activities. Defra has also seconded a member of staff to the Royal Agricultural Society of England (RASE) to work on the initiative.
	Sir Don Curry, chair of the Sustainable Farming and Food Delivery Group is leading work on the initiative, and has written to the devolved Administrations encouraging them to participate in the year.

Fox Hunting

Ashok Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment he has made of the treatment of eagle owls used in fox hunts; and if he will make a statement.

Barry Gardiner: The Government take account of expert advice from the Hawk Board on the health and welfare of the birds used in falconry activities. We are aware that the Hawk Board are opposed to any birds of prey being used in conjunction with hounds. However, the health and welfare of birds of prey used by hunts is subject to existing animal welfare legislation, and it is open to the police or private individuals to bring prosecutions if they believe that these laws are being broken.

Late Payments

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what his Department's policy is on pursuing late payments owed to it from members of the public.

Barry Gardiner: DEFRA's policy is to pursue late payments owed to it from members of the public subject to legal advice and, the provisions of the Insolvency Act.

National Fruit Collection

Daniel Rogerson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans he has for the National Fruit Collection at Brogdale, Kent; and if he will make a statement.

Barry Gardiner: holding answer 11 January 2007
	The National Fruit Collections, owned by Defra, are currently situated at Brogdale Farm, Faversham, Kent.
	Defra wishes to ensure the longer-term security of the apple collection through ex-situ conservation in line with the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources, which can be found at:
	ftp://ftp.fao.org/ag/cgrfa/it/ITPGRe.pdf.
	The Treaty aims to protect the world's most important food and forage crops in an effort to safeguard global food security.
	Two contractors are currently responsible for the maintenance (Brogdale Horticultural Trust) and scientific curation (Imperial College) of the Collections. However, in line with current guidelines on procurement of research, we are obliged to ensure best value for Defra by issuing an open call for bids to carry out both the maintenance, either at the current site or elsewhere, and curation under a single contract. Defra's intention to issue this contract was announced in an Information Bulletin, issued on 8 December 2006. The new contract for maintenance and curation will commence on 1 April 2008.

Parliamentary Questions

Theresa May: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many written parliamentary questions to his Department in the 2005-06 session were not answered with a reply that it had not been possible to reply before prorogation, or similar wording.

Barry Gardiner: For the parliamentary session 2005-06 my Department received a total of 6,915 parliamentary questions, of which one received a prorogation reply.

Parliamentary Questions

Theresa May: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many written parliamentary questions to his Department in the 2005-06 session were not answered wholly or in part on grounds of disproportionate cost.

Barry Gardiner: This information is not held in the format requested. However, it is a matter of public record and can be found in the  Official Report.

Parliamentary Questions

Theresa May: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many written parliamentary questions to his Department in the 2005-06 session did not receive an answer.

Barry Gardiner: All questions tabled to the Department in the 2005-06 session were answered.

Parliamentary Questions

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many parliamentary questions were tabled to his Department in 2006, broken down by  (a) ordinary written and  (b) named day; what percentage of ordinary written questions were answered within 10 working days; and what percentage of named day questions were answered by the specified date.

Barry Gardiner: In the parliamentary Session 2005-06 Defra received 6,915 parliamentary questions of which:
	 (a) 4,882 were ordinary written. Of these 4,483 or 92 per cent. were answered within 10 working days.
	 (b) 934 were named day. Of these 315 or 34 per cent. were answered on the specified date.
	We aim to ensure that Members receive a substantive response to their named day question on the named day and to endeavour to answer ordinary written questions within a working week of being tabled. Unfortunately, this is not always possible but this Department makes every effort to achieve these time scales.

Rat Population

Christopher Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  if he will place in the Library copies of reports by the Central Scientific Laboratory on rodents in domestic dwellings;
	(2)  when the most recent English House Survey Rodent report was published; and when he expects the next one to be published.

Barry Gardiner: The most recent report 'Rodent infestations in domestic properties in England, 2001' was published in July 2005. The report was compiled from data collected during the 2001 English House Condition Survey.
	I have arranged for the information requested to be placed in the Library of the House.
	The next report will be published in the autumn of next year when the three-year dataset for the period 2002-03 to 2004-05 has been received and analysed. However, a short report on temporal trends based on data for 2002-03 and 2003-04 will be available this summer.

Rural Payments Agency

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 12 December 2006,  Official Report, column 960W, on the Rural Payments Agency, what the longest processing time was for processing an application for a payment to  (a) farmers and  (b) agricultural businesses in each year since 2001.

Barry Gardiner: The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) is unable to provide the information for the 11 legacy schemes that were referred to in the response to PQ 0509 2006-07.
	As of 12 January 2007 116,111 Single Payment scheme claimants (99.53 per cent.) have now received a total of 1.523 billion (99.74 per cent.) in full or partial payments.
	Of the estimated 550 claimants who have yet to receive a payment, 23 are now in the priority one category (having a claim value of more than 1,000 or 682), all of which are complex cases involving probate (18), or executor, business partnership disputes and issues such complications over entitlements (5). RPA managers are in contact with these priority one customers to resolve their claim issues. In addition, there are 932 claimants who are awaiting a top-up to a previous partial payment.

Rural Payments Agency

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 12 December 2006,  Official Report, column 960W, on the Rural Payments Agency, how many of the follow-up calls made since 5 June 2006 on behalf of the Rural Payment Agency, involved outstanding payments; and how many calls have resulted in outstanding payments successfully being paid in full.

Barry Gardiner: The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) is unable to identify how many calls involved outstanding Single Payment scheme (SPS) payments. RPA's call monitoring system includes a category defined as SPS queries. Although such queries may have included an aspect relating to an outstanding payment, data on this sub category is not recorded.

Rural Payments Agency

James Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the cost was of the ECR71 software system being installed at the Rural Payments Agency; and what the cost was of the system it replaces.

Barry Gardiner: holding answer 16 January 2007
	The ECR71 development was installed as part of a wider software release that incorporated changes resulting from additional EU regulatory obligations. It is not possible to allocate accurately the precise costs of ECR71 within that development but the software system costs were just under 4.1 million, of which the ECR71 element accounted for a large majority. The functionality provided by ECR71 is an enhancement of the existing system rather than a replacement of anything.

Single Farm Payments

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps his Department has taken within its budget to plan for the possibility that the European Commission disallows any or all of the 131 million reimbursment potentially affected by the delays in processing of single farm payments at the Rural Payments Agency.

Barry Gardiner: Discussions with the European Commission on disallowance in the context of the EU regulatory clearance of accounts procedure are at an early stage in respect of the 2005 scheme year payments. Until the European Commission is in a position to make any formal proposals, the current position is as set out in DEFRA's resource accounts for 2005-06 as laid before Parliament on 30 October 2006.

Single Farm Payments

David Maclean: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many farmers in Cumbria have yet to receive any payment for the single farm payment for 2005; and how many are still to receive the full payment.

Barry Gardiner: Analysis by county of payments made under the single payment scheme is not available at this present time but will be published in due course.

Waterways

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps his Department plans to take to preserve the long-term future of canals and waterways.

Barry Gardiner: holding answer 16 January 2007
	DEFRA continues to support British Waterways, the Environment Agency and the Broads Authority in their important work of maintaining and improving canals and waterways. The Government have made substantial investment in British Waterways' waterways since 2000, spending 524 million. It has safeguarded British Waterways' budget of 55 million for 2007-08 and is working with its management on longer term funding arrangements.
	The Environment Agency is developing long term funding and investment strategies to enable it to run its waterways in a sustainable way in the future. It is allocating 12.5 million of the DEFRA grant in aid towards a total navigation budget for 2007-08 of 18.1 million. DEFRA has provided 30 million over three years for funding infrastructure improvements. The Agency spent 9m in 2005-06 and is on course to spend 10.6 million in 2006-07.
	Most of the funding for navigation in the Broads Authority is raised locally through tolls. In 2005-06, DEFRA allocated the Authority an extra 1.5 million over three years to help meet its priorities in the Broads Plan.

TREASURY

Air Passenger Duty

Gerald Howarth: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the extent to which changes in air passenger duty rates have influenced the environmental performance of the aviation industry; and on what evidence his assessment is based.

John Healey: The Chancellor's 2006 pre-Budget report announced that increases in air passenger duty would deliver carbon savings of O.3MtC a year by 2010-11. When the effect of non-carbon dioxide emissions are taken into account this has a climate change impact equivalent to saving around 0.75MtC per year by 2010-11.
	The assessment was based on econometric analysis of the effects of an air passenger duty increase on passenger numbers and flights.

Child Benefit

Paul Goodman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the nominal expenditure on child benefit in the UK has been in each year since 2001; and what estimate he has made of expenditure in each year from 2006-07 to 2009-10.

Dawn Primarolo: For years to 2005-06, I refer the hon. Member to my reply to the hon. Member for Putney (Justine Greening) on 10 October 2006,  Official Report, column 721W.
	For later years, the projected expenditure figures are shown in the following table:
	
		
			   Expenditure ( million) 
			 2006-07 10,062 
			 2007-08 10,415 
			 2008-09 10,677 
			 2009-10 11,050 
		
	
	These projections are based on indexation of the current first and subsequent child rates of child benefit in line with prices, and projections of the number of children in the UK from the Government Actuary's Department (GAD). Retail price index assumptions may be found in Table C3: Economic assumptions for the public finance projections in Budget 2006 (http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/budget/budget_06/budget_report/bud_bud06_repindex.cfm) and GAD population projections may be found at:
	http://www.gad.gov.uk/Population/2004/uk/wuk04singyear.xls.
	The projections are not a statement of Government policy in relation to financial support for children, and the Government remains committed to meeting its targets to halve child poverty by 2010-11 and eradicate it by 2020-21.

Child Trust Fund

Vincent Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what costs are included in the cost of delivery of  (a) tax credits,  (b) child benefit and  (c) child trust funds in Annex C of the HM Revenue and Customs annual report 2005-06.

Edward Balls: The costs included in the cost of delivery for tax credits, child benefit and child trust fund in the 2005-06 HM Revenue and Customs annual report are paybill costs, staff related costs, IT costs, other operating expenditure, central accommodation costs, other non cash costs, stock losses and departmental overheads.

City of London Competitiveness

Mark Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the Answer of 19 December 2006,  Official Report, column 1729W, on City of London competitiveness, how much non-EU businesses in the financial services and insurance sectors contributed to the UK economy in each of the last five years.

Edward Balls: The financial services sector, including insurance, contributed to the UK economy during the last five years as follows:
	
		
			   Share of total gross domestic product (Percentage) 
			 2001 5.3 
			 2002 7.3 
			 2003 7.9 
			 2004 8.3 
			 2005 8.6 
		
	
	We do not hold separate data on the contribution to the UK economy of non-EU businesses.

City of London Competitiveness

Mark Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the Answer of 19 December 2006,  Official Report, column 1729W, on City of London competitiveness, what assessment his Department has made of the contribution to the UK economy of non-EU businesses in the  (a) financial services and  (b) insurance sectors.

Edward Balls: The UK financial services sector, including insurance, is contributing an increasing share of UK economic output, accounting for 8.6 per cent. of UK Gross Domestic Product in 2005 and supporting over 1 million British jobs. The UK's trade surplus in financial services was 19.1 billion in 2005.
	London is the world's leading international financial centre, with unparalleled scale, scope and internationalism. 70 per cent. of global secondary bond market trading takes place in London, along with over 40 per cent. of over-the-counter derivatives trading, over 30 per cent. of world foreign exchange business, over 40 per cent. of global trade in foreign-listed equities, and 20 per cent. of cross-border bank lending. Over 250 foreign banks are based in the UKmore than in any other financial centre.
	The success of the UK's financial sector depends on a number of factors, including our tradition of openness, innovation, high-level skills, world-class regulation and a competitive business environment. London has proved an attractive location for both EU and non-EU financial services providers, with non-EU providers benefiting not just from London's large pools of liquidity and broad international investor base but also from London's position as a gateway to European financial markets. The Government are working with the financial sector, including through the Chancellor's high-level group on financial services, to ensure its continued success.

Departmental Projects

Mark Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which  (a) individuals and  (b) companies have (i) donated money to and (ii) sponsored projects run by his Department where the sum provided was more than 100,000 in each year since 1997; and which projects were supported in each case.

John Healey: There have been no donations or bequests over 100,000 specifically as a contribution to the running costs of the Treasury since 1997. Donations and bequests are periodically received by the Treasury as a contribution to the public finances, and some have exceeded 100,000. Those donations are surrendered to the consolidated fund.
	There have been no sponsorships received by the Treasury with a value greater than 100,000 since the formal introduction of resource accounting in 2001-02. I am not aware of any sponsorships over 100,000 between 1997 and 2001-02, although sponsorship arrangements would not have been recorded under the appropriation accounting system.

Departmental Staff

Mark Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the total cost was of employing staff in his Department in  (a) 1996-97 and  (b) 2005-06.

John Healey: Information on staff costs can be found in HM Treasury's 2005-06 resource accountHC 1344 and 1996-97 departmental report Cm 3617.

Financial Inclusion Taskforce

Mark Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer who the chair is of the Financial Inclusion Taskforce; what his or her remuneration is; and how much they have claimed in expenses since appointment.

Edward Balls: The Chair of the Financial Inclusion Taskforce is Brian Pomeroy, CBE. All members of the Financial Inclusion Taskforce, including the Chair, are unremunerated for the considerable time and effort they spend on Taskforce matters. The Taskforce budget includes a provision for reasonable travel and subsistence expenses incurred by members on Taskforce business. Expenses claimed by members since the inception of the Taskforce in February 2005 have been minimal.

Financial Services

Vincent Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 19 December 2006,  Official Report, column 1735W, on financial services, what estimates he made of the potential change in tax revenue prior to the change in the law on 3 December 2004 refusing the right of claimants from outside the European Union in the financial services and insurance sectors engaged in the supply of services to non-EU customers to recover VAT incurred on goods and services from UK suppliers.

Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 19 December 2006,  Official Report, column 1735W. It was estimated in 2004 that this change would have a negligible effect.

Golden Rule

David Gauke: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 10 January 2007,  Official Report, column 595W, when he will be in a position to confirm whether the last year of the current economic cycle will be included in the next economic cycle for the purposes of calculating compliance with the Golden Rule.

Stephen Timms: The Government will continue to publish its assessment of progress against the Golden Rule in each Budget and PBR.

Income Statistics

Michael Meacher: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the  (a) average investment income and  (b) average earned income was of (i) the top (A) 0.1 per cent., (B) one per cent., (C) five per cent., (D) 10 per cent., (E) 20 per cent. and (F) 25 per cent. and (ii) bottom (1) 70 per cent. and (2) 50 per cent. of all taxpayers in the latest year for which data is available.

Dawn Primarolo: holding answer 15 January 2007
	The information for 2004-05 is provided in the following table.
	
		
			  Taxpayers ranged on total tax paid ( 1)   (per cent.) ( 2) Mean total investment income ( 3) Mean total earned income 
			 Top 0.1 146,000 754,000 
			 Top 1 35,200 220,000 
			 Top 5 12,400 95,900 
			 Top 10 7,890 68,500 
			 Top 20 4,750 50,100 
			 Top 25 4,090 45,300 
			 Bottom 70 1,010 12,200 
			 Bottom 50 827 9,740 
			 (1 )Estimates obtained from the Survey of Personal Incomes, 2004-05. (2) Investment income defined as the sum of rents from UK property, interest from banks, building societies and other deposit takers, dividends from shares in UK companies and unit trusts and other income taxable at 20 per cent. (3) Earned income includes pay, pensions, self-employment income and miscellaneous other earnings. (4) Estimates are rounded to 3 significant figures.

Inheritance Tax

Mark Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the value of inheritance tax payments made by each income decile group in each year since 1997-98.

Dawn Primarolo: We have no estimate of the income distribution of those whose estates incur an inheritance tax charge. However all are in the top decile of the wealth distribution.

Low Calorie Foods: VAT Rules

Damian Green: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the proposed changes to VAT rules affecting very low calorie foods.

Dawn Primarolo: Most food is VAT zero-rated. The VAT liability of low calorie foods generally follows the VAT liability of their mainstream food equivalents, and they may be zero or standard-rated depending on the nature of the product and the way that it is supplied. This has been the case since VAT was introduced in 1973 and there are no proposals to change this.

Non-domiciliary Taxation

Norman Baker: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 7 December 2006,  Official Report, column 692W, on non-domiciliary taxation, on what date the review was announced; and when he expects to conclude the review.

Dawn Primarolo: The Review of Residence and Domicile rules as they affect the taxation of individuals was announced at Budget 2002. The review is ongoing.

Olympics

Mark Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which is the lead team in his Department for monitoring the cost of the 2012 Olympics.

John Healey: A number of Treasury teams contribute to monitoring the cost of the 2012 Olympics. The Devolved Countries and Regions team has the overall lead on the Olympics.

Olympics

Mark Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether any member of staff in his Department spends more than 70 per cent. of his or her time on issues relating to the 2012 Olympics.

John Healey: I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 13 December,  Official Report, column 1198W.

Personal Debt

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how the amount of unsecured personal debt has changed in the last 20 years as a percentage of  (a) average (median) income and  (b) GDP.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
	 Letter from Colin Mowl, dated 17 January 2007:
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question on the amount of unsecured personal debt in the last 20 years as a percentage of (a) average income and (b) GDP. I am replying in her absence.
	The information requested is shown in the attached table. The first period for which data on unsecured personal debt is available is 1987.
	The estimates for unsecured debt (households' total financial liabilities other than secured debt) are the national accounts series for the combined household and non-profit institutions serving households (NPISH) sectors. Consistent estimates of average income are not available. The figures are given instead as a proportion of total gross disposable income.
	Estimates for households alone are not available. NPISHs are legal entities which are principally engaged in the production of non-market services for households and whose main resources are voluntary contributions by households. For example, charities; relief and aid organisations; educational establishments; trade unions; professional associations, political parties and religious organisations, and sports clubs and associations.
	
		
			  Unsecured personal debt as a percentage of average income and GDP, 1987-2005 
			   Unsecured Personal debt( 1)  (end-year) ()  Gross Disposable Income( 2)  ()  GDP ( million)  Unsecured debt as a % of average income(end-year)  Unsecured debt as a % of GDP (end-year) 
			 1987 47,088 262,603 420,211 17.9 11.2 
			 1988 57,606 290,907 469,035 19.8 12.3 
			 1989 68,854 323,573 514,921 21.3 13.4 
			 1990 74,779 359,898 558,160 20.8 13.4 
			 1991 75,439 395,925 587,080 19.1 12.8 
			 1992 72,081 426,780 611,974 16.9 11.8 
			 1993 68,623 452,965 642,656 15.1 10.7 
			 1994 72,031 469,387 680,978 15.3 10.6 
			 1995 77,474 497,593 719,747 15.6 10.8 
			 1996 80,084 526,366 765,152 15.2 10.5 
			 1997 88,412 559,941 811,194 15.8 10.9 
			 1998 97,404 582,790 860,796 16.7 11.3 
			 1999 109,208 608,988 906,567 17.9 12.0 
			 2000 124,323 643,415 953,227 19.3 13.0 
			 2001 140,891 686,312 996,987 20.5 14.1 
			 2002 157,748 709,048 1,048,767 22.2 15.0 
			 2003 163,506 740,389 1,110,296 22.1 14.7 
			 2004 183,390 765,683 1,176,527 24.0 15.6 
			 2005 194,003 804,756 1,225,339 24.1 15.8 
			 (1) Unsecured personal debt is the sum of short term loans issued by Monetary Financial Institutions in the United Kingdom and abroad. We have assumed average income as being gross disposable income. The data were published in the United Kingdom Economic Accounts table 64 published on 21 December 2006 available at the following address. http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/Product.asp?vlnk=1904Pos=ColRank=lRank=422 (2 )For the combined household and non-profit institutions serving households (NPISH) sectors, consistent estimates of average income are not available. The figures are given as a proportion of total gross disposable income.

Policy Review Working Groups

Mark Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the Policy Review Working Groups which the Prime Minister announced on 14 December 2006 will feed into the comprehensive spending review.

Stephen Timms: The policy review working groups are one element of the Government's preparations for the 2007 CSR, which will focus on equipping Britain to meet the challenges of the next decade. Alongside the recently published analysis Long Term opportunities and challenges for the UK, independent and HMT led policy reviews and wider public engagement, the policy review working groups will help inform the long term policy choices to be made in the CSR.

Portland Trust

Mark Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  whether his Department has commissioned any work from the Portland Trust in the last three years;
	(2)  whether representatives of the Portland Trust were invited to the informal meeting of ECOFIN on 9-10 September 2005 in Manchester;
	(3)  what logistical support, advice or other assistance was given by the Portland Trust for the Economic Secretary to the Treasury's trip to the Middle East in December 2006;
	(4)  what role the Portland Trust has played in his review into the Economic Aspects of Peace in the Middle East;
	(5)  how much funding has been allocated by his Department to the Portland Trust in each year since 2003.

Edward Balls: HM Treasury has not commissioned any work from or made any payments to the Portland Trust in the past three years. No representatives of the Portland Trust were invited to the informal meeting of ECOFIN on 9-10 September 2005; nor did the Portland Trust provide any logistical support for my recent visit to the Middle East. Treasury Ministers and officials have met a wide range of stakeholders over the past three years to discuss various aspects of the economic regeneration of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. As was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Government's policy to provide details of such meetings.

Stamp Duty

Mark Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the value of stamp duty payments made by each income decile group in each year since 1997-98.

Edward Balls: Estimates of numbers of households falling into each income decile group and average amounts of stamp duty land tax or stamp duty on land and property (prior to December 2003) paid by each of these groups are available in ONS reports on the effects of taxes and benefits on household income. These reports are available at:
	http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/Product.asp?vlnk=10336
	and cover the years 1997-98 to 2004-05.
	No information is available on stamp taxes on shares paid by income decile groups.

Stamp Duty

Mark Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of house purchases was subject to stamp duty in each year since 1997-98.

Edward Balls: The estimated percentage of house purchases liable to stamp duty in each available year since 1997-98 is given in the following table. For each year the estimates given are based on those transactions whose value is above the stamp duty threshold but exclude those transactions which pay no stamp duty due to disadvantaged area relief. The figures are for the United Kingdom (shown using the code UK) apart from the years indicated (using the code EWNI) where only figures for England, Wales and Northern Ireland can be given.
	
		
			   Area code  Estimated percentage of liable residential transactions 
			 1997-98 EWNI 50.2 
			 1998-99 EWNI 54.0 
			 1999-2000 EWNI 58.6 
			 2000-01 UK 62.9 
			 2001-02 UK 67.7 
			 2002-03 UK 69.5 
			 2003-04 UK 69.0 
			 2004-05 UK 65.1 
			 2005-06 UK 53.6

Tax Returns

Grant Shapps: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what measures are in place to ensure that claims for 250 payment for online completion of tax forms by employers are processed in a fair and systematic way according to the receipt dates of claims.

Dawn Primarolo: All small employers who successfully file their annual return online have the incentive amount credited to their PAYE account. The vast majority of these employers self serve the incentive which means that they deduct the amount from future payments of tax and national insurance.
	A minority of employers request a cheque payment of the incentivethis process takes longer than the self-service arrangements. HMRC aim to make these payments within 21 days of the date the request was received.

Taxation Rates

Alan Milburn: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the average effective marginal rate of taxation was for each income decile in each year since 1979.

Dawn Primarolo: The information requested is not available.

Unclaimed Assets

Mark Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what work his Department is undertaking on unclaimed assets; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Balls: The Government welcomes the banking industry's commitment and progress towards introducing a scheme to allow unclaimed assets to be reinvested in the community. In the 2006 Budget the Government undertook to consider the legal and accounting issues surrounding unclaimed assets. Having done this, the Government believe that in order for the banking industry to set up an unclaimed assets scheme, where the rights and interests of both consumers and the industry are protected, it is necessary to bring forward enabling legislation. The Government intend to proceed with this and consult widely.

Valuation Office Agency

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the Valuation Office has a distinct data strategy.

Dawn Primarolo: Yes, the Valuation Office Agency's forward plan 2006-10 and latest annual report and accounts 2005-06, both of which are available on its website www.voa.gov.uk. cover the strategy for improving its data and exploiting new technology.

Valuation Office Agency

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many staff in the Valuation Office Agency received bonus payments in each of the last five years for which information is available; and what the total value was in each year of such payments.

Dawn Primarolo: The Valuation Office Agency discontinued its Bonus Awards scheme in 2005.
	The number of Valuation Office Agency staff receiving bonus payments and the total value of the payments in each of the last five years is listed as follows.
	
		
			   Number of staff receiving bonus payments  Total value of  payments () 
			 2002 226 236,696 
			 2003 253 287,289 
			 2004 282 321,486 
			 2005 Nil Nil 
			 2006 Nil Nil

VAT

Bernard Jenkin: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what additional funds HM Treasury received since December 2004 as a result of the change in the law on 3 December 2004 which refused the right of claimants from outside the European Union in the financial services and insurance sectors engaged in the supply of services to non-EU customers to recover VAT incurred on goods and services from UK suppliers; and whether an assessment has been made of the impact of this measure on the competitiveness of the UK economy;
	(2)  what representations the Government has received as a result of the change in the law on 3 December 2004 which refused the right of claimants from outside the European Union in the financial services and insurance sectors engaged in the supply of services to non-EU customers to recover VAT incurred on goods and services from UK suppliers.

Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 19 December 2006,  Official Report, column 1735W.
	HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) officials are discussing this issue with a number of businesses and trade bodies.
	HMRC does not collect data on VAT relating to. individual goods and services.

Woodlands

Christopher Huhne: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the  (a) tax expenditures from income and corporation tax and  (b) other tax expenditures on woodlands are included in his Department's overall estimates of tax expenditures; and if he will estimate the value of such tax exemptions since 1998.

Dawn Primarolo: The value of woodlands relief from inheritance tax since 1998 is estimated to be less than 1 million a year. Relief from inheritance tax may also be claimed under business property relief, agricultural property relief and heritage relief but no information is available on the value involved. Similarly insufficient data exist upon which to base any reasonable estimates of the costs of income, corporation and other tax reliefs and exemptions relating to woodlands. These are therefore not included in the published estimates of the costs of tax expenditures.

Workplace Compliance

Mark Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the cost to his Department and its agencies of workplace compliance legislation in the last nine years.

Dawn Primarolo: Information on the costs incurred in relation to workplace compliance costs are not recorded and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

HOUSE OF COMMONS COMMISSION

Chairs (Portcullis House)

Norman Baker: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission for what reasons the chairs in Refreshment Department catering outlets in Portcullis House were recently replaced; what the cost was of the replacement; and how the old chairs were disposed of.

Nick Harvey: The chairs in the catering areas of Portcullis House were recently replaced due to their repeated structural failure. They had been replaced once under guarantee, but by 2006 were uneconomic to repair as they were no longer under guarantee, and the original manufacturer had gone out of business.
	The cost of replacement chairs, including an additional quantity to meet the Administration Committee's recommendation for more seating to be provided in the Portcullis House catering areas, was 57,800 plus VAT.
	The old chairs that remain safe and fit for purpose will be sent to the Government approved auction house for disposal.
	A three to five-year life expectancy for contract-quality chairs in a high-usage catering environment is considered normal in the hospitality industry.

Cutlery

Norman Baker: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission how much was spent by the House authorities on  (a) additional cutlery and  (b) replacing missing cutlery in 2006.

Nick Harvey: The House of Commons Refreshment Department spent 5,882 on cutlery purchases in 2006. This expenditure relates to the purchase of stainless steel cutlery for use in the cafeterias. It is not possible to break this figure down into  (a) expenditure on additional cutlery and  (b) replacement of lost and damaged cutlery. There were no purchases of silver cutlery in 2006.

Private Dining Facilities

John Mann: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission whether there are exclusions and exceptions to clauses  (a) 5.1,  (b) 5.2 and  (c) 5.3 of the contract for hiring private dining facilities in the House of Commons.

Nick Harvey: Nothing in the contract for the use of the private dining rooms provides for any exclusions and exceptions to paragraph 5.1 to 5.3.

Works of Art

Norman Baker: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission which works of art were  (a) acquired and  (b) bought by the House authorities in 2006; and how much was paid for each item.

Nick Harvey: The following works of art were acquired by the House of Commons Collection in 2006, either by gift, loan or purchase made by the Advisory Committee on Works of Art:
	 Works of art given to the House of Commons in 2006
	History is now and England (view of the House of Commons Library); painted by Vincent Keter [catalogue reference WOA 6486]
	Portrait of Arthur Wellesley Peel; painted by William Ewart Lockhart [catalogue reference WOA 6550]
	 Works of art loaned to the House of Commons in 2006
	Portrait of 1st Earl of Chatham; painted by William Hoare [catalogue reference WOA L796]
	Portrait of Lord Wilson of Rievaulx painted by Ruskin Spear [catalogue reference WOA L797]
	The House of Commons, 1965; painted by Gerald Scarfe [catalogue reference WOA L798]
	Caricature of Sir Winston Churchill's last day in the Commons Chamber; drawn by Gerald Scarfe [catalogue reference WOA L799]
	Portrait of Frederick North, 2nd Earl of Guilford; painted by Nathaniel Dance [catalogue reference WOA L800]
	Portrait of William Petty, 1st Marquess of Lansdowne; painted after Sir Joshua Reynolds [catalogue reference WOA L801]
	Portrait of William Wyndham Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville; painted by Gainsborough Dupont [catalogue reference WOA L802]
	Portrait of right hon. David Cameron MP; painted by Anne McIntosh [catalogue reference WOA L804]
	 Works of art purchased by the House of Commons in 2006
	Portrait of Lord Wilson of Rievaulx; drawn by Juliet Pannett, purchased for 494 [catalogue reference WOA 6476]
	Portrait of Earl Attlee; drawn by Juliet Pannett, purchased for 741 [catalogue reference WOA 6477]
	Coming Home to Roost (original pen and ink artwork for a cartoon); drawn by John Philip Stafford, purchased for 34.30 [catalogue reference WOA 6481]
	Portrait of Lord John Russell at the Despatch Box, 1843; watercolour painted by D. Carrick, purchased for 600 [catalogue reference WOA 6482]
	Parliament from the Flying Eye; painted by Richard Colson, purchased for 4,000 [catalogue reference WOA 6484]
	Westminster Palace from Lambeth; painted by Richard Colson, purchased for 4,000 [catalogue reference WOA 6485]
	Portrait of the Earl of Avon; drawn by Frank O. Salisbury, purchased for 1,320 [catalogue reference WOA 6487]
	Photographs of right hon. Jack Straw MP, right hon. John Reid MP, right hon. Charles Clarke MP, right hon. Geoffrey Hoon MP and right hon. Harriet Harman MP, part of 'Heads of Government' series; photographed by David Partner, purchased for 1,468.75 [catalogue references WOA 6495 to 6499]
	Portrait of Earl Attlee; drawn by Juliet Pannett, purchased for 400 [catalogue reference WOA 6500]
	Preliminary pen and ink sketch of Lord Rowton with a pencil sketch of William Gladstone on the reverse; drawn by Spy (Lesley Ward). purchased for 250 [catalogue reference WOA 6501]
	Views of the Clock Tower and Victoria Tower, supplements to the Illustrated London News, 1860s chromolithographic prints; printed by an unknown engraver, purchased for 8.74 [catalogue references WOA 6502 to 6503]
	View of Chevening; painted by Marcus May (the cost of this commission is commercially confidential) [catalogue reference WOA 6504]
	Rug from a design by A.W.N. Pugin with VR monogram, hand-knotted wool; unknown manufacturer, purchased jointly with the Speaker's Art Fund for 32,100 [catalogue reference WOA T45]
	Portrait bust in bronze of Lord Home of the Hirsel; sculpted by Angela Conner (the cost of this commission is commercially confidential) [catalogue reference WOA S528]
	Portrait photographs of Baroness Castle of Blackburn, Lord Parkinson, right hon. Clare Short MP, Lord Alton of Liverpool, Lord Owen, Lord Steel of Aikwood, Lord Healey, right hon. Donald Dewar, Baron Boyle of Handsworth, right hon. Sir Edward Heath (two photographs), Enoch Powell, right hon. Frank Dobson MP, right hon. Sir Gerald Kaufman MP, Mrs. Gwyneth Dunwoody MP, Lord Wilson of Rievaulx (two photographs), right hon. Hugh Gaitskell, right hon. Aneurin Bevan, Lord Callaghan, Lord Archer of Weston-Super-Mare, Baroness Lee of Asheridge, John Smith, Jonathan Aitken, right hon. Kenneth Clarke MP, right hon. Sir Malcolm Rifkind MP, Lord Shinwell, Baroness Thatcher, Lord Heseltine, right hon. Dr. Marjorie Mowlam, Lord Kinnock, Lord Fowler, right hon. Reginald Maudling, right hon. Robin Cook, Lord Hattersley, Lord Jenkins of Hillhead, Baroness Williams of Crosby, Baron Joseph, Viscount Tonypandy, Baron Selwyn Lloyd, Tarn Dalyell, Tim Eggar, right hon. Tony Benn and right hon. Tony Blair MP; photographed by Jane Bown, purchased for 6,450 [catalogue references WOA 6505 to 6547]
	Portrait of right hon. James Ramsay Macdonald; drawn by Harold Storey, purchased for 48.23 [catalogue reference WOA 6548]
	Portrait of Speaker William Bromley; painting attributed to Michael Dahl, purchased for 2,000 [catalogue reference WOA 6549]

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

British Household Panel Survey

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry pursuant to his answer of 8 January 2006, to the hon. Member for Truro and St Austell,  Official Report, column 293W, on the British Household Panel Survey, what factors were taken into account when designating  (a) living alone and  (b) living in social housing indicators of disadvantage.

Malcolm Wicks: For the purposes of the British Household Panel Survey:
	 (a) Living alone is defined in terms of the number of people within the household. In particular, living alone is defined as a person living in a household with no other individuals, either adults or children.
	 (b) Living in social housing is defined as a person living in accommodation that is rented from either a local authority or from a housing association.

Correspondence

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many letters to his Department sent from hon. Members during Session 2005-06 remain unanswered, broken down by those which are  (a) one,  (b) two,  (c) three,  (d) four and  (e) over six months old.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The Department has the following unanswered correspondence from hon. Members for the 2005-06 session:
	
		
			   Unanswered correspondence 
			 Over six months old 0 
			 Four months old 2 
			 Three months old 0 
			 Two months old 0 
			 One month old 14 
		
	
	The total number of letters received from hon. Members for this session was 12,509, 8,272 of which were answered within the 15 day deadline.

Employment Agencies

Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what regulations govern the employment of staff deployed by employment agencies; and what checks are undertaken to ensure that the terms and conditions of employment of such employees meet legal requirements.

Jim Fitzpatrick: holding answer 16 January 2007
	Employment agencies are required to meet minimum standards of conduct established under the Employment Agencies Act 1973 and associated Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003. The Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations seek to protect those using the job-finding services provided by employment agencies. The DTI's Employment Agency Standards (EAS) Inspectorate is responsible for enforcing the legislation, which, among other things, sets out what must be included in an agency's terms and conditions with work-seekers.
	The EAS helpline provides advice and guidance to agencies and workers on the various obligations and rights under the legislation. The EAS helpline can be contacted on 0845 955 5105.
	The inspectorate investigates every relevant complaint it receives, which would include those concerning temporary agency workers' terms and conditions of employment, and, which indicate a possible breach of the legislation. It also undertakes targeted spot checks in those sectors where, on a risk-based analysis, they consider that breaches of legislation are more likely to occur. It does this by visiting agencies' premises, where appropriate, and examining the records.

Energy Services Directive

David Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent progress has been made on the implementation of the Energy Services Directive.

Malcolm Wicks: Overall responsibility for implementation of the Energy Services Directive lies with the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. The metering and billing aspects of the directive are amongst the issues covered in the Government's current energy review consultation on metering and billing.

Fuel Poverty

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimate he has made of the number of people living in fuel poverty in London in each of the last five years, broken down by borough.

Malcolm Wicks: Fuel poverty statistics are only available at Government office region level. Latest available figures are sourced from the 2004 English House Condition Survey and show that in 2004, 119,000 households in London (3.9 per cent. of all households in London) were in fuel poverty. This statistic cannot be broken down further. Figures for fuel poverty in London in 2001, 2003 and 2004 are given as follows. Figures for other years are not available.
	
		
			   Number of households in fuel poverty 
			 2001 151,000 
			 2003 108,000 
			 2004 119,000 
		
	
	Small variations between years may be due to sampling variability, rather than underlying trends in the data.

Gas Storage

Andrew Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent changes have been made to the planning process relating to gas storage.

Malcolm Wicks: No recent changes have been made to the planning process related to gas storage.
	The importance of additional gas supply infrastructure, including gas storage, is growing as Great Britain imports more gas.
	To help meet this challenge, measures were announced last year to review the onshore and offshore consents procedures for gas supply infrastructure, to assess scope for simplification and streamlining.
	Any changes to onshore planning processes for gas storage will be considered in light of the broader scope of the Planning White Paper. The Government are currently consulting on potential changes to offshore consenting regimes for gas storage.

Metering Systems

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what analysis the Government have carried out of the roll out of smarter metering systems in other European countries.

Malcolm Wicks: Smart metering has been introduced in a number of markets, in Europe and elsewhere, for a variety of purposes. These markets have significant differences from that in Great Britain, which has competition in both energy supply and metering provision. Ofgem's consultation document on domestic metering innovation (February 2006) included an analysis of overseas experience. As part of the Energy Review, the Government are currently consulting on a range of metering and billing issues, including smart metering.

Metering Systems

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what analysis the Government has  (a) carried out and  (b) plans to carry out on the environmental and energy benefits of smarter metering systems.

Malcolm Wicks: Smart metering was addressed in the Government's Energy Review consultation document and Report, and, in more detail, in the Government's consultation on metering and billing, which was published in November 2006. Further detailed consideration of smart metering is contained in the documents about metering innovation published during 2006 by the industry regulator, the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem).

Offshore Wind Turbine Programme

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what capacity constraints he has identified affecting the UK's offshore wind turbine programme.

Malcolm Wicks: There is a current global supply and demand issue for turbines, both onshore and offshore, which has an effect on supply to the UK market. There is currently an approximate 2-year lead time delay for the supply of offshore turbines.

Recyclates

Christopher Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what volume of recyclates was exported to China in each year for which figures are available.

Malcolm Wicks: Recyclates are not recorded if they are not subject to the prior written notification and consent procedures which apply to exports of hazardous waste. However, HMRC's Overseas Trade Statistics include mass data for waste and scrap, including the selection of UK exports to China shown in the following table:
	
		
			  Thousand tonnes 
			   Waste, pairings and scrap of plastics  Waste and scrap of paper and paperboard  Waste and scrap of metal 
			 1997 0 4 8 
			 1998 1 2 7 
			 1999 4 5 14 
			 2000 5 6 115 
			 2001 7 49 130 
			 2002 11 160 120 
			 2003 26 349 377 
			 2004 63 1,089 286 
			 2005 42 1,527 324 
			  Notes:  1. Overseas Trade Statistics basis. 2. 0 indicates less than 500 tonnes. 3. Metal includes waste and scrap of precious metal or metal clad with precious metal, ferrous metal, copper, nickel, aluminium, lead, zinc, tin, tungsten and tantalum. 
		
	
	Some waste glass (cullet) exports were recorded, but this was less than 50 tonnes in total across the nine years.

TRANSPORT

British Transport Police

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many crimes were reported to British Transport Police in  (a) England,  (b) London,  (c) each London borough and  (d) each London (i) underground, (ii) mainline and (iii) interchange station in relation to (A) violence against the person, (B) sexual offences, (C) theft of passenger property and (D) robbery in each of the last five years, broken down by sex of the victim; and whether the crime was reported by a member of (1) the public and (2) rail staff in each case.

Tom Harris: This information is not held by the Department for Transport but by the British Transport Police who can be contacted at:
	British Transport Police,
	25 Camden Road,
	London NW1 9LN,
	E-mail: general.enquiries@btp.pnn.police.uk

Departmental Annual Report

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the project costs were for each of the employment measures outlined in section 3.47 of his Department's annual report for 2006.

Gillian Merron: The project costs for each of the employment measures listed in section 3.47 of the Department for Transport's annual report for 2006 are outlined as follows. The costs are a mix of estimated internal staff costs and external costs such as programme management and consultancy.
	
		
			
			 Developing an age action plan 29,600 
			 Creating an employment equality impact assessment toolkit 8,100 
			 Re-accreditation to use the Positive About Disabled People symbol and guaranteed interview scheme 2,100 
			 'Valuing Diversity' events 6,000 
			 Green Light 3 career development programme for Black and Minority Ethnic staff 37,900 
			 Benchmarking activities 1,600

Departmental Annual Report

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the  (a) cost and  (b) purpose was of the consultancy work referred to in figure 11b of his Department's annual report 2006.

Stephen Ladyman: The table in question is reproduced to provide the costs as requested.
	
		
			  Figure 11b: Road safety expenditure 1999-2000 to 2007-08 consultancies for roads and local transport 
			  Outturn   million 
			 2000-01 3.5 
			 2001-02 4.2 
			 2002-03 4.6 
			 2003-04 3.6 
			 2004-05 3.7 
			 2005-06 3.7 
			 2006-07 4.3 
			 2007-08 4.5 
		
	
	The item referred to as consultancies for roads and local transport covers the cost of the entire Road User Safety Division Research Programme.
	The programme covers research work on topics such as vulnerable road users, driver and rider behaviour, driver impairment, road engineering and speed management, statistical analysis, accident causation and medical and health-related impairment.
	Our published research reports and a compendium of current and recently completed projects is available on the Department's website at the following addresses:
	http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_rdsafety/documents/divisionhomepage/032513.hcsp;
	http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_rdsafety/documents/page/dft_rdsafety_612214.pdf.

Driving

David Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps he intends to take in the next 12 months to champion the issue of driving while at work across Government.

Stephen Ladyman: Preliminary work is now complete and I aim to have a full programme in place across Government within 12 months to promote best practice policies in respect of driving at work.

East Coast Main Line: Durham Station

Roberta Blackman-Woods: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will undertake not to approve any franchise agreement for the East Coast Main Line which would reduce services to Durham station.

Tom Harris: A consultation document was issued on 15 December 2006 setting out the proposed specification for the new franchise. There is no intention to reduce the services to Durham in the new Intercity East Coast franchise.

Galileo Programme

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether he plans to establish an EU public private partnership for the operational phase of the Galileo programme.

Stephen Ladyman: Transport Council has agreed that the commercial and operational phase of the European Union's Galileo programme be taken forward as a public private partnership (PPP), on a 20 year concession with a public funding ratio of roughly one-third; the remainder to be provided by a private sector concessionaire. Negotiations with the prospective concessionaire are continuing and the eventual contract will be signed by the Galileo Supervisory Authority: the Agency that will regulate and manage the programme on behalf of the EU.
	The UK is committed to the delivery of a robust and viable PPP for Galileo, with a strong commercial focus. Largely as a result of UK pressure an assessment of the contract will be submitted to Council for decision by member states before the PPP contract is signed.

Inland Waterways

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what financial incentives his Department is using to encourage the transportation of freight on inland waterways.

Stephen Ladyman: Since 1997, the Government have awarded some 54 million to fund the transfer of freight from road to water under the Freight Facilities Grant scheme. These will have saved over 1 billion road miles worth of lorry journeys on our roads. In 2005 we also introduced a new Waterborne Freight Grant scheme to assist both inland waterways and shipping companies with their operating costs.

London Underground

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the liability to the public purse of public private partnerships relating to the London Underground is; what the buy-back cost is; and what the long-term cost differential in off-balance payments by the end of the contracts is compared with the cost of keeping the management of the assets under the original system.

Gillian Merron: Responsibility for London Underground Limited (LUL), including the Public Private Partnership (PPP) deals, passed to Transport for London and the Mayor of London on 15 July 2003. In support of the PPP the Government has made an unprecedented funding commitment to London Underground, averaging more than 1 billion a year up to 2009-10. PPP funding for the period to 2018 is being considered as part of this year's Comprehensive Spending Review.
	Detailed financial analysis of the PPP has been undertaken in several published documents. Ernst and Young undertook an independent review into LUL's value for money assessment for the then Secretary of State, which was published in February 2002. LUL also published their own 'Final Assessment Report' into the PPPs in February 2002, and this was updated in May of that year. Copies of these three documents are available in the House Library. The National Audit Office report 'Were they good deals' into the procurement of the PPPs was published in June 2004.

Mobility and Inclusion Unit

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the  (a) cost and  (b) purpose of his Mobility and Inclusion Unit is; and what initiatives they have run to date.

Gillian Merron: The Mobility and Inclusion Unit (MIU) has a running budget of 1,842,000 for 2007-08.
	It is responsible for developing policy and commissioning research on the mobility of different social groups including older and disabled people. It is also responsible for co-ordinating transport issues relating to cross modal crime, reducing social exclusion, promoting the third sector and sponsoring the work of the Disabled Peoples' Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC).
	Current initiatives include implementing the transport provisions of the Disability Discrimination Act 2005, responding to the statutory equality duties by developing and publishing DfT Equality Schemes and sponsoring the Secure Stations Scheme.

Nottingham East Midlands Airport

Alan Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the carbon footprint of Nottingham East Midlands airport; and what carbon impact assessment has been made of the plans to extend the airport.

Gillian Merron: The Government's policy on the development of airport capacity is set out in the 2003 Future of Air Transport White Paper, supported by the progress report published in December 2006. East Midlands airport's (EMA) master plan says that its current operations produce approximately 12,000 tonnes of carbon annually. EMA has set itself a target that by 2012 all of its primary energy needs will either be obtained from renewable sources or the carbon emissions 'off-set'. If met, the airport's energy consumption will become carbon neutral by 2012.

Parliamentary Questions

Theresa May: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  how many written parliamentary questions to his Department in the 2005-06 session were not answered wholly or in part on grounds of disproportionate cost;
	(2)  how many written parliamentary questions to his Department in the 2005-06 session were answered with a reply that it had not been possible to reply before prorogation, or similar wording.

Gillian Merron: Of the 6,820 parliamentary questions tabled to the Department for Transport during the 2005-06 session, 2 per cent. were not answered wholly or in part, on grounds of disproportionate cost and the Department was unable to answer two parliamentary questions substantially, before Parliament prorogued.

Private Finance Initiative

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what presentations were made at his Department's public private partnerships summit.

Gillian Merron: The Department for Transport and the Scottish Executive co-hosted a public private partnership (PPP) Transport Summit as part of the 2005 UK EU Presidency. The summit programme comprised of five sessions:
	(1) Europe's Transport Investment Needs and the Role of PPPS.
	(2) The Private Sector Perspective (including an address on Ensuring that PPPs Deliver Value for Money for Taxpayersa Finance Ministry Perspective).
	(3) What makes a PPP Effective for Government?
	(4) The Challenges and Riskshow do we make PPPs work?
	(5) Concluding Panel and Recommendations.

Private Finance Initiative

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the long-term liability of private finance initiative (PFI) credits for street lighting schemes is; what the buy back cost is; what the additional cost to the Department from using a PFI over the length of the contract is; and if he will make a statement.

Gillian Merron: The remaining long-term liability of PFI credits for signed street lighting schemes, which is the outstanding revenue grant payable to local authorities as a result of the award of PFI credits, is 1.9 billion. Buy back costs are essentially the voluntary termination terms. It is not possible to calculate the department's total PFI termination liability. The amount would vary from contract to contract, when the event occurred and may be subject to negotiation with the PFI Contractor. The Government contributes partly to the costs of a PFI street lighting scheme. The contractual liability rests with the local authority who carry out a value for money (vfm) assessment of the overall costs to the public sector before signing a contract. This vfm assessment takes account of both the financial costs and the expected value of risk transferred to the private sector.

Rail Services

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what powers he has to seek reversals of railway timetable changes that may  (a) breach commitments given in the franchise process and  (b) be contrary to the interests of passengers.

Tom Harris: Train operators must operate timetables which are consistent with the service specifications in their franchise agreements and the Secretary of State can take enforcement action to secure compliance if necessary. The Secretary of State has no powers to force changes to timetables which are compliant with the service specifications, but does encourage train operators to listen to their passengers and stakeholders and take account of their concerns.

Railway Stations: Photography

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what his Department's policy is on photography at British train stations.

Tom Harris: This is primarily a matter for station operators. The Department has not offered any advice on the subject but would not normally expect operators to object to photography at stations unless it was being carried on in such a way as to pose an unacceptable risk to the photographer or others.

Roads: Essex

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the average number of drivers was in Essex in each of the last five years.

Stephen Ladyman: The available annual data on the number of substantive licence holders in Essex is provided as follows:
	
		
			  Substantive licence holders in Essex( 1) 
			  Year( 2)  Number 
			 2002 826,000 
			 2003 825,000 
			 2004 (3) 
			 2005 819,000 
			 2006 828,000 
			 (1) Includes all substantive licence holders resident in Essex at the time of the data extract, including motorcycle only licence holders. (2) Data were extracted from the DVLA central database at different points in each year; May 2002, November 2003, July 2005 and January 2006. (3) Data not available

Safety Cameras

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much revenue speed cameras produced in Essex in each of the last five years.

Stephen Ladyman: Speed cameras do not produce revenue. Drivers who break the law pay penalties, as other lawbreakers do. The audit certificates for the Essex Safety Camera Partnership for the financial years outlined in the following table shows the fines from conditional offer of fixed penalties for offences detected by speed and red light cameras operating under the National Safety Camera Programme for the last five years.
	
		
			
			 2001-02 3,524,120 
			 2002-03 5,672,220 
			 2003-04 5,137,740 
			 2004-05 4,710,300 
			 2006-06 4,732,860

Safety Cameras

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many new speed cameras were installed on roads in Essex in each of the last five years.

Stephen Ladyman: The Department only holds information regarding the number of speed camera sites operated by Safety Camera Partnerships. Each site may have one or more speed camera enforcement locations within the approved site. The information in the following table relates to the number of fixed and mobile camera sites in each of the five calendar years for which full records are available.
	
		
			  Speed cameras sites installed in the Essex Safety Camera Partnership area 
			  Calendar year  Fixed  Mobile  Total 
			 2001 27 78 105 
			 2002 6 5 11 
			 2003 18 14 32 
			 2004 2 7 9 
			 2005 46 2 48

Sir Rod Eddington

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much it has cost to employ Sir Rod Eddington as an adviser.

Gillian Merron: Sir Rod Eddington was asked in Budget 2005 to advise the Government on the links between transport and the economy. He reported on 1 December 2006 and has not been paid for the time that he spent working on the study.

South West Trains

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what research he has  (a) commissioned and  (b) evaluated to assist in ensuring that the determination of the franchise for South West Trains to Stagecoach is sustainable in the long term; and if he will make a statement.

Tom Harris: The franchising letting process undertaken by the DfT complies with EU Procurement Regulations. Stagecoach's bid for the operation of the South Western franchise was assessed on their technical, financial and commercial abilities under the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM). The EFQM excellence model includes consideration of the sustainability of the proposal over the term of the franchise. The EFQM assessment is undertaken by trained assessors both internal to the DfT and external advisors.

Street Works: Weybridge

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport why no notice was given of the engineering works which took place around Weybridge on 27 December 2006; whether the works were undertaken as a matter of urgency; what the purpose of the works was; and if he will make a statement.

Tom Harris: These are operational matters for Network Rail, as the owner and operator of the national rail network. The hon. Member should contact Network Rail's chief executive at the following address for a response to his question.
	John Armitt
	Chief Executive
	Network Rail
	40 Melton Street
	London NW1 2EE

Traffic Management Act

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he plans to implement the provisions of the Traffic Management Act 2004 regarding street works.

Gillian Merron: The Department for Transport is currently implementing several parts of the Act relating to new Street work regulations to a published timetable. (This is available at the following address).
	The implementation dates for some later aspects of the timetable have yet to be finalised.
	http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_roads/documents/page/dft_roads_040926.hcsp

Traffic Penalties: Foreign Drivers

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what timetable he has set for the enforcement of traffic penalties on foreign drivers who have left the UK.

Stephen Ladyman: The European Commission already has plans for a Directive on cross-border enforcement of traffic offences and is currently consulting on the subject. It is recognised that effective enforcement where an offender is not resident in the country where the offence was committed can benefit from co-operation with other member states, and that there is therefore a legitimate interest at European Union level. There will be careful scrutiny of any proposals that are brought forward and the timetable for their introduction will be dependent on that process.
	For financial penalties, a European Union Framework Decision on the application of the principle of mutual recognition to financial penalties was adopted on 24 February 2005. It provides for member states to recognise and enforce fines imposed on their nationals and residents by other member states. It will close the loophole that allows an offender to effectively evade punishment by leaving the member state that imposed the financial penalty. The Government are taking the necessary action to implement this measure in the United Kingdom as soon as practicable.
	In addition, in the Road Safety Act 2006, we introduced provisions to enable the introduction of a Graduated Fixed Penalty and Deposit scheme to help enforce penalties against offenders for traffic and roadworthiness offences such as overloaded lorries, where the offender cannot prove they have a satisfactory United Kingdom address at which a summons could be served. A deposit could be taken by either the police or VOSA enforcement officers in lieu of a fixed penalty notice or in more serious cases in lieu of a Court hearing. The offenders will therefore not be able to avoid paying the appropriate penalty by simply leaving the country as the sum will already have been taken. The Act also allows, in any case where a prohibition has been issued and where either the driver or vehicle is deemed unfit to continue with the journey, that both the police and VOSA enforcement officers will in future be able to immobilise a vehicle if they believe there is a risk that a driver will continue with his journey whilst under prohibition. The details of the schemes will be subject to a consultation in 2007 with a view to implementation later in the year.
	I and the Irish Transport Minister jointly undertook in February 2006 to work together to initiate cooperation between the United Kingdom and Ireland on one another's driving disqualifications. Once initiated, this would mean that a resident of Ireland, disqualified from driving in the United Kingdom, would not escape the consequences of that disqualification when he returned home. It would also mean that similar measures applied to a resident of Great Britain or Northern Ireland disqualified in Ireland for a motoring offence committed there. We plan to take this step within the framework established by the 1998 European Union Convention on driving disqualifications. We had originally intended that this practice should be initiated in the early part of 2007. There has been some unavoidable delay to this work, but I remain committed to bringing such mutual recognition into effect as soon as practicable. Officials from all three jurisdictions are working closely together to this end and we expect to consult on details in the course of 2007.

EDUCATION AND SKILLS

Apprenticeships

Shona McIsaac: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many apprenticeships there were in  (a) North East Lincolnshire and  (b) North Lincolnshire in each year since 1997.

Phil Hope: Figures for those participating in apprenticeships funded by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) can be derived from the Individualised Learner Record (ILR). The work-based learning (WBL) ILR was first collated in 2002/03 and consistent figures are only available from that year.
	The following table shows the average number of apprentices in learning in the local LSC area of Lincolnshire and Rutland based on the home postcode of the learner.
	
		
			  Lincolnshire and Rutland 
			   Apprentices 
			 2002/03 2,100 
			 2003/04 2,400 
			 2004/05 2,600 
			 2005/06 2,500 
			  Note: Figures rounded to nearest 100.

Children in Care

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what representations he has received on the number of children in care who would qualify for tier  (a) one,  (b) two and  (c) three, as described in the Care Matters Green Paper.

Parmjit Dhanda: The consultation on the Care Matters Green Paper is ongoing and it is therefore too early to provide useful information about the representations received on this issue. Once the consultation period has ended a summary of responses will be published.

Children's Centres

Nigel Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what children's centres are located in East Sussex constituencies.

Beverley Hughes: There are currently 10 Sure Start children's centres in East Sussex constituencies; these are listed at annex A. There are a further 18 planned. Nationally, 1,051 children's centres are now reaching over 800,000 children and their families. The strong engagement of local authorities and local partners means that we are making good progress towards our target of 3,500 children's centresone for every communityby 2010.
	
		
			  Annex A: Sure Start children's centres in East Sussex 
			  Name of children's centre  Constituency 
			 Denton Island Children's Centre Lewes 
			 Egerton Park Family Learning Centre Bexhill and Battle 
			 Hailsham East Children's Centre Wealden 
			 Hastings and St. Leonards Children's Centre Hastings and Rye 
			 Ore Valley Children's Centre Hastings and Rye 
			 Peacehaven Children's Centre Brighton Kemptown 
			 Robsack Children's Centre Hastings and Rye 
			 Rural Rother Children's Centre Hastings and Rye 
			 Shinewater Children's Centre Eastbourne 
			 Willingdon Trees Children's Centre Eastbourne

Every Child a Reader Scheme

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills 
	(1)  what research his Department considered when deciding to provide additional funding for the Every Child a Reader scheme;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Every Child a Reader scheme;
	(3)  what assessment his Department has made of the  (a) effectiveness and  (b) scientific basis of (i) Every Child a Reader and (ii) alternative schemes.

Parmjit Dhanda: Two evaluations of the first year of the Every Child a Reader pilot have been published. They are, Every Child a Reader: the results of the first year and Evaluation of Reading Recovery in London schools: Every Child a Reader 2005-2006. Results from the first year of the pilot showed that showed that children made an average gain of 21 months in reading age in 4-5 months of teaching.
	The pre-Budget report announced that the Every Child a Reader scheme would be rolled out nationally to benefit over 30,000 children a year by 2010-11. In rolling out Every Child a Reader, we will improve its effectiveness still further by ensuring that it takes full account of the recommendations of Jim Rose's review of the teaching of early reading, and the systematic use of phonics as the prime strategy for the teaching of reading.

GCSE Engineering

Mark Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps are being taken to improve the level of achievement in GCSE Engineering; and how many candidates achieved each grade in GCSE Engineering in each of the last five years, broken down by sex.

Phil Hope: The Department has actively supported the teaching and learning of the GCSEs in vocational subjects by working closely with the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT), the Learning and Skills Network (LSN) and awarding bodies to provide training and guidance materials to support teachers delivering the new courses.
	We continue to fund awarding bodies' support which has been expanded to include: provision of exemplar materials; feedback on the 2004 and 2005 external assessments; senior examiner and moderator centre visits focusing on schools' individual requirements.
	Vocational GCSEs were not included in the achievement and attainment tables before 2004 and so data for all of the last five years are not available.
	
		
			  Grade breakdown of vocational GCSE Engineering of pupils at the end of key stage 4( 1)  by grade, 2004-06( 2) 
			Grades obtained  
			  Gender  Total entries  A*A*  AA  BB  CC  DD  EE  FF  GG  U( 3)  X( 4)  A*A*  to CC 
			  2004 
			 Male 4,809 8 94 349 688 853 891 778 558 495 95 1,139 
			 Female 246 3 14 45 46 42 39 27 16 10 4 108 
			 Total 5,055 11 108 394 734 895 930 805 574 505 99 1,247 
			  
			  2005 
			 Male 7,266 11 144 531 1,099 1,307 1,355 1,123 911 651 134 1,785 
			 Female 333 5 20 48 69 62 47 36 24 15 7 142 
			 Total 7,599 16 164 579 1,168 1,369 1,402 1,159 935 666 141 1,927 
			  
			  2006 
			 Male 8,580 16 210 704 1,434 1,667 1,649 1,288 854 692 66 2,364 
			 Female 350 2 22 51 69 65 46 35 33 23 4 144 
			 Total 8,930 18 232 755 1,503 1,732 1,695 1,323 887 715 70 2,508 
			 (1 )Pupils at the end of key stage 4 in the academic year. (2 )Data for 2006 are revised. Data for other years are final. (3) Grade U refers to pupils who are ungraded or unclassified. (4) Grade X includes absent or results pending.

Narconon

David Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether he plans to issue guidance to schools about drug education programmes offered by Narconon.

Parmjit Dhanda: The Department's guidance, Drugs; Guidance for Schools (DfES 2004) is clear that teachers should be the main providers of drug education and maintain responsibility for the overall drug education programme in their school. External contributors can be used where they add to the drug education programme a dimension that the teacher alone cannot deliver.
	It is for schools and local authorities to decide whether to use the services of an external contributor to assist with their drug education programme, and if so who this should be.

Sandwich Courses

John Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what his estimate is of the changes in the last five years in the number of four year degree courses available that involve the student working outside university for a year.

Bill Rammell: The latest available data for the academic years 2001-02 to 2005-06 are given in the table.
	Figures are not available on the number of courses available therefore figures on the number of students enrolling on four year degree courses that involve the student on an industrial or other placement for a year have been given.
	
		
			  Students enrolling on any four year, first degree sandwich courseEnglish higher education institutionsand the number of students actually on an industrial or other placement( 1)  in that year 
			  Academic year  Number of students  Of which: number of students on placement 
			 2001-02 91,280 (2) 
			 2002-03 88,285 14,295 
			 2003-04 85,620 14,375 
			 2004-05 86,090 15,015 
			 2005-06 84,000 15,190 
			 (1 )Covers students on an industrial (or other placement). (2) In 2001-02 students on industrial placements could not be identified separately from those studying abroad for the year as a whole.  Note: Figures are on a HESA standard registration population and are rounded to the nearest five.  Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA)

School Buildings

Claire Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many new schools have been built in each UK constituency since 1997; which of these schools have a source of energy provided by on-site renewables; what definition his Department uses of  (a) sustainable design,  (b) zero carbon energy sources and  (c) carbon footprint in relation to the design of new schools; and which technical references were used when determining these definitions.

Jim Knight: The Department does not maintain records of new school buildings by constituency and does not have a comprehensive record of those which have on-site renewable energy systems.
	With regard to the various definitions that the Department has adopted:
	 (a) Sustainable designBuilding Research Establishment's environmental assessment method, 'BREEAM', has been adapted for schools. This supports the general principles of environmentally sustainable design without being prescriptive about the way in which this is delivered. The method is well documented.
	 (b) Zero carbon energy sourcesthe Department does not have its own definition but would expect designers to those technologies which have been identified with the Building Regulations Approved Documents L2A (Conservation of Fuel and Power).
	 (c) Carbon footprint in relation to the design of new schoolsthe means by which the carbon footprint attributable to energy use at schools can be calculated is documented within the DfES publication: Energy and Water Benchmarks for Maintained Schools in England: 2002-03.

School Exclusions

Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of children in  (a) St. Albans and  (b) Hertfordshire (i) given a fixed-term exclusion from school and (ii) permanently excluded from school in the last period for which figures are available had an (A) statemented and (B) non-statemented special educational need.

Parmjit Dhanda: The available information is given in the table.
	
		
			  Maintained primary, secondary and special schools ( 1, 2) : number of permanent and fixed period exclusions by special educational needs (SEN) ( 3 ) 2004/05 
			   Fixed period exclusions  Permanent exclusions( 3) 
			   Number  Percentage( 4)  Number ( 4) Percentage 
			  St. Albans parliamentary constituency 
			 Pupils with statements of SEN 58 14.0 (6) (6) 
			 Pupils with SEN without statements 82 4.0 10 0.49 
			 Pupils with no SEN 887 5.8 9 0.06 
			 Total (5) 1,030 5.8 20 0.11 
			  
			  Hertfordshire local authority area 
			 Pupils with statements of SEN 491 12.2 14 0.35 
			 Pupils with SEN without statements 1,325 5.8 141 0.62 
			 Pupils with no SEN 4,915 3.3 107 0.07 
			 Total (5) 6,730 3.8 260 0.15 
			 (1) For permanent exclusions includes maintained and non-maintained special schools. (2) For fixed period exclusions includes maintained special schools, excludes non-maintained special schools. (3) There are known quality issues with the permanent exclusions data reported by schools. The numbers shown here are as reported by schools and are unconfirmed. (4) The number of exclusions expressed as a percentage of the total number of pupils supported by the same SEN provision. (5) Totals have been rounded to the nearest 10. There may be discrepancies between the sum of constituent items and totals as shown. (6) 1 or 2 exclusions, or a rate based on 1 or 2 exclusions  Source:  School Census

School Food

Ashok Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills 
	(1)  which non-caloric drinks will be available in schools apart from water under the new school food regime;
	(2)  whether intense sweeteners will be included in any of the food and drink that will be available in schools under the new school food regime;
	(3)  whether he has been informed of any incidents of schools excluding fruit juices from the provision of available drinks on the grounds of high caloric intake;
	(4)  what estimate he has made of the effect on the weight of children of school age of replacing one caloric beverage a day with a sugar-free equivalent.

Parmjit Dhanda: The new Education (Nutritional Standards for School Lunches) (England) Regulations 2006, introduced in September 2006, limit the range of drinks available in schools to plain water (still or sparkling); skimmed or semi-skimmed milk; soya drinks enriched with calcium; pure fruit or vegetable juices; yogurt or milk with artificial sweeteners or less than 5 per cent. added sugar; or combinations of these drinks. Low calorie hot chocolate, tea and coffee are also allowed. There is a requirement for drinking water to be provided free of charge to registered pupils on school premises. Subsequent regulations to be introduced in September 2007 will extend these requirements to ensure that drinks throughout the school day are consistent with those served at lunch; and that drinking water is provided free of charge at all times of the school day.
	Artificial sweeteners are allowed in yoghurt or milk drinks, and in the yoghurt or milk portion of combined drinks. We have no plans to ban additives, which include sweeteners, in food under the new legislation. However, if schools want to take action on additives in food, they are free to do so.
	We are not aware of any incidents of schools excluding fruit juices from the provision of available drinks on the grounds of high caloric intake.
	We have not made, and have no plans to make, any estimate of the effect on the weight of children of school age of replacing one caloric beverage a day with a sugar-free alternative.

School Food Trust

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the budget is of the School Food Trust in 2006-07; how many consultants it employed in 2006; and how many people it employs.

Parmjit Dhanda: The budget for the School Food Trust in 2006-07 is 7 million. It employed 16 consultants to undertake a range of one-off tasks in 2006 and it currently employs 33 members of staff.

Sign Language Courses

Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills which further education colleges are offering Council for the Advancement of Communication with Deaf People (CACDP) British Sign Language beginners courses at Level One and Level Two in the 2006-07 academic year; and how many such colleges have stopped providing CACDP British Sign Language beginners courses at Level One and Level Two since his Department withdrew funding for British Sign Language classes.

Bill Rammell: We have not withdrawn funding from sign language courses. Sign language courses remain eligible for learning and skills council (LSC) funding and have not been reclassified or redefined in terms of their eligibility for funding. We have been clear that provision for learners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities, including those with hearing impairments, remains a priority as was stated in both the grant letter to the LSC for 2007-08 and the LSC's annual statement of priorities.
	We do not hold information on the individual courses offered by further education colleges. However, in line with the commitments in the LSC's annual statement of priorities we expect that the proportion of learners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities will be maintained.

Sign Language Courses

Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many deaf tutors of British Sign Language have been made redundant due to the withdrawal of funding for British Sign Language classes in further education colleges.

Bill Rammell: We have not withdrawn funding for sign language courses and these courses remain eligible for funding from the Learning and Skills Council (LSC). We have been clear that provision for learners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities, including those with hearing impairments, remains a priority as was stated in both the grant letter to the LSC for 2007-08 and the LSC's annual statement of priorities.
	We do not hold information on the staff employed by further education colleges. Further education colleges are independent bodies responsible for recruiting their own staff and determining, with regard to all appropriate legislation, their employment practices.

Special Educational Needs

Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of children with a special educational need who had been excluded from schools in  (a) St. Albans and  (b) Hertfordshire were readmitted in the last period for which figures are available.

Parmjit Dhanda: The requested information is not collected centrally.
	Information on appeals against permanent exclusion from a maintained school are collected at local authority level. This includes the number of appeals determined in favour of the parent/pupil and where reinstatement was directed. The information is not broken down by the characteristics of pupils (such as special educational needs).
	In 2004/05, 20 appeals against permanent exclusion were heard by an appeals panel in Hertfordshire local authority. Of these, 11 were determined in favour of the parent/pupil. Of the successful appeals, reinstatement was direct for four (36 per cent. of appeals determined in favour of the parent/pupil).

Statemented Children

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children in  (a) North Yorkshire and  (b) City of York were given a statemented education in each of the last five years ; and if he will make a statement.

Parmjit Dhanda: The information requested is shown in the following table.
	
		
			  All schools( 1) : pupils with statements of SEN 2002-06, based on where the pupil attends schoolNorth Yorkshire and York local authorities 
			  Position in January each year 
			   North Yorkshire  York 
			Pupils with statements   Pupils with statements 
			   Total pupils  Number  Percentage  Total pupils  Number  Percentage 
			 2002 96,239 2,533 2.6 27,284 792 2.9 
			 2003 96,197 2,541 2.6 27,067 699 2.6 
			 2004 95,285 2,346 2.5 27,096 735 2.7 
			 2005 95,049 2,198 2.3 26,861 650 2.4 
			 2006 94,030 2,021 2.1 26,530 510 1.9 
			 (1) Includes nursery, primary, middle, secondary, independent and special schools, pupil referral units, city technology colleges. From 2003 includes academies.  Source: Schools' Census

Student Finance: HE Sector

David Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make further provision for alleviating financial hardship amongst higher education students through help with  (a) tuition costs,  (b) transport costs and  (c) accommodation costs.

Bill Rammell: A new package of student support was introduced for the academic year 2006-07 and we have no plans to make any further provision for tuition, transport or accommodation costs.
	A tuition fee loan is available to cover the maximum amount a student could be asked to pay in tuition fees. The new student support package offers more targeted support for students with low incomes with the re-introduction of maintenance grants up to 2,700. Around 50 per cent. of new entrants are expected to receive a full or partial grant. In 2006-07 the maintenance loan was increased to meet students' median basic expenditure as measured by the Student Income and Expenditure survey (SIES).
	Additional help is available for students facing financial hardship from the Access to Learning Fund which is administered by individual higher education institutions and has a budget of over 64 million for 2006/07.

Teachers

Robert Walter: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many teachers qualified in 2005-06; and how many of those who qualified in that year have not secured teaching jobs.

Jim Knight: In the academic year 2004/05, the latest year for which data are available, 27,150 mainstream initial teacher training (ITT) trainees gained qualified teacher status (QTS). Of these 2,140 were known not to be employed in teaching posts six months after gaining QTS. Mainstream trainees include trainees from universities and other higher education (HE) institutions, school centred initial teacher training (SCITT) and Open universities (OU), but exclude employment-based routes.

Third Sector Forum for Children and Young People's Services

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the reason is for the delay in the publication of the notes of the meeting of the Third Sector Forum for Children and Young People's Services on 17 July; how the forum plans to communicate the decisions made at its meetings; when the minutes of the meeting of 23 October will be available; and if he will make a statement.

Parmjit Dhanda: The notes from the meetings of the DfES Third Sector Forum for Children and Young People's Services held on 17 July and 23 October 2006 were made public on 1 December 2006. They can be found on the Every Child Matters website through the strategy and governance section on the Third Sector Forum page. Decisions made at the meetings will be communicated through the publication of the minutes on the ECM website.

University of Cumbria

Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what progress has been made on the formation of the University of Cumbria; and how many students he expects to enrol in the first year.

Bill Rammell: The University of Cumbria project board's business plan for the development of higher education in Cumbria was sent in October 2006 to the prospective funding agencies, principally the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and the North West Development Agency (NWDA), for consideration. Following comments received, a further version of the business plan will be submitted in January 2007. The 'University of Cumbria Funders' Forum' (comprising HEFCE, NWDA and other key stakeholders with financial interests) will next meet in late February 2007 and representatives of the project board are likely to attend this.
	Estimates of student recruitment numbers are being considered as part of these ongoing discussions.

University Students: Essex

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of  (a) 18 and  (b) 19-year-olds from Essex joined university courses in each of the last five years.

Bill Rammell: The latest available figures on participation in higher education by local authority were published by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) in January 2005 in Young Participation in England, which is available from their website at http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/hefce/2005/05_03/
	This report shows participation rates for young people who enter higher education aged 18 or 19, disaggregated by local authority, for the years 1997 to 2000. The figures for Essex local authority, and the comparable figure for England, are shown in the table. HEFCE have not produced participation rates beyond 2000.
	
		
			  Young participation rate (YPR (A)) in higher education( 1)  for year cohort aged 18 
			   1997  1998  1999  2000 
			 Cohort for Essex(2) 15,620 15,950 15,980 15,130 
			 Young Participation Rate (A) for Essex(3 )(percentage) 27 26 27 28 
			 Young Participation Rate (A) for England (percentage) 29.2 28.8 29.2 29.9 
			 (1) Covers all students studying higher education courses at UK higher education institutions and other UK institutions, for example further education colleges. (2) Cohorts are reported to the nearest 10. (3) Young participation rates for constituencies are reported to the nearest percentage.  Source: Higher Education Funding Council for England. 
		
	
	The total number of undergraduate entrants to UK higher education institutions from Essex local authority for each year since 2001/02 are given in the table.
	
		
			  Entrants to undergraduate courses( 1)  from Essex local authority 
			   2001/02  2002/03  2003/04  2004/05  2005/06 
			 Aged 18 3,245 3,385 3,375 3,480 3,755 
			 Aged 19 1,560 1,615 1,555 1,595 1,650 
			 Other Ages(2) 8,825 8,340 8,415 9,600 7,700 
			 Total Entrants 13,630 13,340 13,340 14,675 13,105 
			 (1) Covers all students studying higher education courses at UK higher education institutions only. Students studying higher education courses elsewhere such as further education colleges are excluded. (2) Includes a very small number of students with unknown ages or ages under 18.  Note: Figures are based on the HESA standard registration population for entrants and have been rounded to the nearest 5, so components may not sum to totals.  Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). 
		
	
	The Department uses the higher education initial participation rate (HEIPR) to assess progress on increasing first-time participation of English students aged 18 to 30 in higher education towards 50 per cent.: the latest provisional figure for 2004/05 is 42 per cent. The HEIPR is not calculated at local authority level.

Visually Impaired Children

Mark Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many visually impaired children are in education in  (a) Milton Keynes and  (b) England.

Parmjit Dhanda: The information requested is shown in the following table:
	
		
			  Maintained primary and secondary schools and special schools: number of pupils with statements of SEN or at School Action Plus whose type of need is visual impairment( 1, 2) , January 2006, England and Milton Keynes local authority 
			   Pupils with statements of SEN or at School Action Plus by their primary type of need 
			   Primary schools( 3)  Secondary schools( 3)  Special schools( 4) 
			   Number  Percentage  Number  Percentage  Number  Percentage 
			 England(5) 3,750 1.3 3,070 1.4 940 1.1 
			 Milton Keynes 16 1.1 12 1.1 0 0.0 
			 (1) Pupils at School Action Plus and those pupils with a statement of SEN provided information on their primary need and, if appropriate, their secondary need. Information on primary need only is given here. Information is not collected on pupils with different types of need who are supported in school at School Action. (2) Excludes dually registered pupils. (3) Includes middle schools as deemed. (4) Includes maintained and non-maintained special schools. Excludes general hospital schools. (5) National totals have been rounded to the nearest 10.  Source: Schools' Census.

PRIME MINISTER

Downing Street Staff

Oliver Heald: To ask the Prime Minister 
	(1)  what the cost was of the Downing street strategic communications unit in  (a) 2002-03,  (b) 2003-04,  (c) 2004-05 and  (d) 2005-06;
	(2)  what the cost was of the No. 10 Press Office in  (a) 2002-03,  (b) 2003-04 and  (c) 2004-05.

Tony Blair: For the cost of the No. 10 Press Office for the financial year 2002-03, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Yeovil (Mr. Laws) on 22 March 2004,  Official Report, columns 559-60W.
	The cost of the No. 10 Press Office for subsequent years was as follows:
	
		
			
			 2003-04 1,393,089 
			 2004-05 1,499,659 
		
	
	The total cost of running the strategic communications unit was as follows:
	
		
			
			 2002-03 594,213 
			 2003-04 537,407 
			 2004-05 321,517 
			 2005-06 487,464 
		
	
	The figures reflect ever-increasing media demands with the advent of more media outlets, 24-hour news and the growth of the internet, for example.

Downing Street Staff

Oliver Heald: To ask the Prime Minister what the total staff cost of the Prime Minister's Office was in  (a) 2002-03,  (b) 2003-04 and  (c) 2004-05.

Tony Blair: The total staff cost for No. 10 Downing street was as follows:
	
		
			
			 2002-03 9,013,468 
			 2003-04 9,794,666 
			 2004-05 9,997,729

Interception of Communications Commissioner

Lynne Jones: To ask the Prime Minister whether he has received the report of the Interception of Communications Commissioner for 2005; and when he expects the report to be placed before the House.

Tony Blair: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for North-East Hertfordshire (Mr. Heald) on 15 January 2007,  Official Report, column 787W.

Lord Levy

Mark Francois: To ask the Prime Minister what role Lord Levy played on his recent visit to the Middle East; and what funds he claimed from the public purse in connection with the visit.

Tony Blair: Lord Levy accompanied me to various meetings during my recent visit to the Middle East, acting in his role as my special envoy. Lord Levy receives no remuneration and travels at his own expense.

Ministerial Responsibilities

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Prime Minister what mechanisms are in place to ensure that Ministers uphold the principle of collective responsibility.

Tony Blair: The principle of collective responsibility is set out in the Ministerial Code.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Old Vehicle Events

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when he expects a decision to be made as to whether old vehicle events in Northern Ireland will be exempt from applying to the Parades Commission for their events.

Paul Goggins: On 24 October, the Parades Commission recommended that consideration should be given
	to allowing certain vintage vehicle associations exemption from the main provision of the Public Processions (Northern Ireland) Act 1998.
	The recommendation is under consideration and an announcement will be made shortly.

Regional Development Roads Service and NCP

Mark Durkan: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland which performance indicators under the contract between the Department for Regional Development Roads Service and National Car Parks (NCP) qualify for additional performance-related payments; and what the maximum annual amount payable to NCP is, including performance payments.

David Cairns: The Chief Executive of Roads Service (Dr. Malcolm McKibbin) has been asked to write to the hon. Gentleman in response to this question.
	 Letter from Dr. Malcolm McKibbin, dated 17 January 2007:
	You recently asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland a Parliamentary Question pursuant to Question 112772, on National Car Parks, which performance indicators under the contract qualify for additional performance-related payments; and what the maximum annual amount payable to National Car Parks (NCP) is, including performance payments.
	As this issue falls within my responsibility as Chief Executive of Roads Service, I have been asked to reply.
	I can advise that all 31 of the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are considered when calculating the performance related payment payable to NCP (See Annex A).
	As I advised in my reply to Parliamentary Question 112772, the contract includes for the management of Roads Service's off-street charged car parks and the enforcement of parking restrictions. If NCP provides the appropriate level of service as measured against the KPIs, under the terms of the contract the maximum annual amount payable to them will be 8,848,698.38. This sum includes the Maximum Performance Related Payment, and refers to the full service to be provided by NCP, not just enforcement of parking restrictions.
	 Annex A
	 Key Performance Indicators
	 A. Effective Parking Enforcement
	1. Number of TAs deployed.
	2. Number of Supervisors deployed.
	3. Coverage of Patrol requirements.
	4. The availability and responsiveness of the rapid response unit.
	 B. Good quality, motivated and informed TAs
	5. Initial TA training and accreditation.
	6. Regular assessments and delivery of on-going training.
	7. The Standard of TA appearance, courtesy and helpfulness.
	8. The level of complaints and complaints handling.
	9. Level of Absenteeism and staff turnover amongst all TA staff and car park staff.
	 C. Issue of Good Quality PCNs
	10. Number of cancellations due to TA error.
	11. Number of Void PCNs.
	12. Good quality information.
	13. Control of Pocket Books.
	14. Linkage of good quality digital images to PCNs.
	 D. Clamping and Removal Operations
	15. Availability of resources during hours of operation.
	16. Adherence to removals/clamps criteria.
	17. Good quality condition reports including digital images.
	18. Timeliness of releasing clamps handling of requests for priority de-clamping.
	 E. Car Pound Operations
	19. Banking of cash via the car pound.
	20. The availability of staff at the car pound.
	21. Customer Service,
	22. Inventory.
	 F. Full and timely reporting of all defective/missing lines and signs
	23. The prompt reporting of all defects in lines, signs and relevant street furniture.
	 G. Car Park Management
	24. Car Park Management.
	25. Enforcement and Compliance in kiosk car parks.
	26. Car Park Cleanliness and Flower beds and surrounds.
	27. Signs, lines and bay markings are in good condition.
	 H. Procurement, Reporting and Maintenance of Equipment
	28. Maintain all pay and display machines in working condition.
	29. Car park equipment will be maintained and all faults swiftly rectified.
	 I. Cash Collection, Counting and Banking
	30. Cash must be regularly collected, counted and banked from all pay and display machines.
	31. Cash must be collected, counted and banked from off street car parks (kiosk and pay on foot) at regular intervals.

DEFENCE

Afghanistan

Gisela Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many notifications have been sent by Afghan forces to the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission in accordance with the memorandum of understanding (MOU) concerning the transfer by UK armed forces to Afghan authorities of persons detained in Afghanistan since the signature of the MOU.

Des Browne: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to the right hon. Member for Tonbridge and Malling (Sir John Stanley) on 8 January 2007,  Official Report, columns 76-77W.

Eurofighter Typhoon

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment his Department made of the economic impact of the threatened cancellation by Saudi Arabia of the Eurofighter Typhoon contract.

Des Browne: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 20 October 2006,  Official Report, columns 1477-78, to the hon. Member for Hornsey and Wood Green (Lynne Featherstone).

Future Aircraft Carriers

Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether agreement has been reached with the Aircraft Carrier Alliance on the cost of the Future Aircraft Carriers.

Adam Ingram: holding answer 11 January 2007
	Agreement on the cost of the future aircraft carriers has not yet been reached. Decision on the CVF programme will only be taken once we know with confidence the risks, the costs and the associated contractual framework involved in building the carriers. This work is part of the current demonstration phase.

Gibraltar

Andrew MacKinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will meet the Gibraltar Services Police Staff Association to discuss the contents of their letter of 15 December 2006 to the Head of Human Resources, Chief of Joint Operations, Northwood HQ; and if he will make a statement.

Derek Twigg: The Gibraltar Services Police Staff Association should discuss the issues they have raised in their letter of 15 December with local MOD management. They are encouraged to do so within the framework of the Joint Consultative Committee that has been established in Gibraltar to facilitate constructive dialogue on employee relations issues between the Association and management.

Iraq

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps he is taking to provide troops on operational duties in Iraq with extended rest periods.

Adam Ingram: The aim of rest and recuperation is to provide Service personnel, who have been mentally and physically challenged by continuous service in an operational area, time to rest out of line and recharge their batteries in order to sustain operational effectiveness.
	The decision to grant rest and recuperation rests with the in-theatre operational commander, who will consider a number of factors such as the threat, the operational requirement and minimum force levels, to determine the practicality of rest and recuperation.
	Rest and recuperation is not leave and is to be taken at a time, location and for a duration specified by the operational commander. Rest and recuperation may only be granted to individuals and units on periods of continuous operations in excess of four months.

Military Aircraft

Liam Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many times  (a) Harrier,  (b) Jaguar,  (c) Tornado GR4 and  (d) Typhoon aircraft have been cannibalised in the last 12 months.

Adam Ingram: The removal of serviceable parts from one aircraft for use on another is a short-term, temporary measure to ensure that the maximum number of aircraft are available to the front line.
	The number of these instances over the last 12 months is given in the following table.
	
		
			  Aircraft type  Number of cannibalisations 
			 Harrier (1)1,105 
			 Jaguar 66 
			 Tornado GR4 2,048 
			 Typhoon 481 
			 (1) Statistics for Harrier aircraft operating in Afghanistan are not available for the period requested as information was not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost and by diverting staff from operational support tasks. As of 1 January 2007 instances of the cannibalisation of Harrier aircraft in Afghanistan are being recorded centrally.

Mothballing

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the purchase cost was of each ship which is  (a) mothballed and  (b) proposed to be mothballed; what the estimated cost of mothballing each ship is; and what the estimated cost is of returning each ship to full operational capability.

Adam Ingram: HMS Invincible is the only Royal Navy ship currently in a very low state of extended readiness in which it would take approximately 18 months to return her to the operational service. The build cost of Invincible was 184.5 million. It has so far cost 2.5 million to prepare and maintain the ship for her period of extended readiness. A further 1.4 million has been allocated to take her through to 2010 when she is due to be withdrawn from service. As there are currently no plans to return Invincible to operational service, no formal assessment of the cost of doing so has been undertaken.
	There are currently no plans to place any further warships into this state of readiness.

Red Arrows

Tobias Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has to reduce the budget of the RAF Red Arrows display team in the next two years.

Adam Ingram: As part of the Department's current planning round, we are examining a range of proposals for the defence programme, to enhance investment in certain areas and also to reduce investment in areas of lower priority. Ministerial decisions on the forward defence programme will be taken in the first quarter of 2007 and appropriate announcements will be made in that timeframe.

Royal Navy Vessels

Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Royal Navy vessels previously consigned to a reduced state of readiness have subsequently been reactivated.

Adam Ingram: The normal operating cycle of every warship includes periods of lower readiness, typically for maintenance or refit, interspersed with periods in which the ship is held at high readiness for operations.
	As I indicated in my answer to the hon. Member on 15 January 2007,  Official Report, column 773W, I am in the process of writing to him on this subject.

Saddam Hussein

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether UK  (a) forces and  (b) intelligence played a role in the capture of (i) Saddam Hussein and (ii) co-defendants of Saddam Hussein.

Des Browne: UK forces, military or defence intelligence played no role in the capture of Mr. Saddam Hussein, or the seven co-defendants in the Dujail case.

Service Personnel: South African Citizens

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  what steps he is taking to ensure that South African citizens serving in the British armed forces may continue to do so under South African law;
	(2)  what representations he has made to the South African Government on the Prohibition of Mercenary Activities Bill.

Adam Ingram: We have been following the development of the draft Prohibition of Mercenary Bill very closely and are urgently investigating the potential consequences for South African personnel currently serving in the UK armed forces, should the legislation be enacted, so that we can support those who may be affected. We value, greatly, the service given by South African personnel.
	Representations have been made by the Secretary of State for Defence to the South African Defence Minister on the potential implications the proposed legislation would have on recruitment and retention of personnel into the UK armed Forces. A visit is being planned to South Africa to enable MOD officials to hold face-to-face discussions with the South African Department of Defence to try and resolve some of the uncertainties.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Frozen Pensions

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when the Minister for Pensions will meet Mr. John Markham of the International Consortium of British Pensioners to discuss frozen pensions of UK pensioners living overseas; and if he will make a statement.

James Purnell: I met with Mr. Markham on 17 January 2007.

Job Search Support

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in the UK left employment in the last 12 months; how many were provided with job search support via Government agencies; what the  (a) total and  (b) average cost per person was of providing such support; what success rates were achieved; and how success is measured.

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in Great Britain lost their jobs in the last 12 months; how many were provided with job search support via Government agencies; what the  (a) total cost of providing job search support and  (b) average cost per person of providing job search support was in that period; what success rates were achieved; and how success is measured.

Jim Murphy: There are more people in work than ever beforeup 192,000 this year and by over 2.5 million since 1997. Our employment rate is the highest in the G7. Redundancies are close to their lowest and vacancies are high, with over 600,000 thousand each and every month.
	6.1 million people in the UK(1) (5 million excluding students) left employment in the last 12 months, of whom 2.6 million (2.3 million excluding students) were job to job changes, 1.4 million (1.2 million excluding students) were flows from employment to unemployed and 2.1 million (1.4 million excluding students) were flows from employment to inactivity.
	We provide job search support via Jobcentre Plus and every working day Jobcentre Plus conducts 36,000 work-focused interviews and takes around 38,000 calls to the Jobseeker Direct number. However not all of the 6.1 million people that left employment in the last 12 months will have made contact with Government agencies to get help with finding new employment.
	Information is not available on how many people were provided with job search support via Government agencies; what the total cost and the average per person cost of providing job search support was; or what success rates were achieved.
	(1 )Relevant Office for National Statistics information is not available for Great Britain.

CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

Advertising

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much her Department has spent on advertising with  The Guardian newspaper, including online, advertorials and advertising features, in the latest year for which figures are available.

David Lammy: The Department spent the following on advertising in  The Guardian newspaper in the last year for which figures are available:
	
		
			
			 MLA Board members (1 March 2006) 4,665.56 
			 Big Lottery Fund Board (17 May 2006) 6,773.10 
			 BBC Trust Board (29 May 2006) 6,285.76 
			 Sport England Chair (7 June 2006) 4,309.58 
			 English Heritage Chair (12 July 2006) 4,451.90 
			 BBC Trust Chair (8 January 2007) 8,803.24 
			 Advert in Guardian Media Section 3,510.90 
			 Total 38,799.90

Coastal Towns

Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what action her Department  (a) has undertaken and  (b) is planning to undertake to improve the (i) economic competitiveness and (ii) quality of life for residents of coastal towns, with particular reference to sporting and cultural activities and amenities.

David Lammy: The programmes supporting sporting and cultural provision offered by my Department and its non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) are available in all towns of England, including coastal towns.
	Here are some examples of the many actions we have undertaken or plan to improve the (i) economic competitiveness and (ii) quality of life for residents of coastal towns.
	The investment we make through Visit Britain to support its promotional expenditure promotes and contributes to the visitor economy of Britain as a whole, including coastal towns.
	We have invested in a number of large scale projects such as leisure centres, multi-sport facilities etc in coastal towns around England through Sport England's community investment fund and Active England funding since 2005.
	We recognise that the reuse and restoration of historic buildings and areas is a way of achieving a sense of place and local identity. Restoring the historic environment creates jobs and helps underpin local economies.
	The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has funded 655 projects totalling 250.7 million in English coastal resorts. Many HLF funding schemes have complemented or levered in extra funding from regional development agencies, the single regeneration budget and the European regional development fund. HLF funding has also benefited other seaside towns including former mining and fishing towns.
	There have been 520 lottery awards in the Hartlepool constituency, with a total value of over 28.2 million since 1 May 1997, the most notable award being one of just over 4 million from HLF towards the restoration of HMS Trincomalee. These have generated partnership funding of approximately a further 24 million.
	The Regional Screen Agencies are actively involved in programmes in coastal towns and areas, including encouraging filming, supporting film festivals and supporting a range of community education projects. These help encourage more production to film there, and raise the profile of these areas.
	The Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy will be the venue for the Olympic and Paralympic sailing events in 2012. Hosting the games will provide enhanced facilities on the site that will provide an outstanding sailing legacy for all levels, from beginner to world class including disabled. The development will also act as a catalyst for the continued regeneration of the area.

Community Facilities: London

Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many  (a) libraries,  (b) community centres,  (c) leisure centres and  (iv) sports centres closed in each year since 1997 in each borough in the Greater London area.

David Lammy: The information requested is not readily available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Consultants

Kate Hoey: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the total cost was to  (a) Sport England,  (b) her Department and  (c) UK Sport of the use of consultants in 2005-06.

Richard Caborn: The total cost of consultants to Sport England, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and UK Sport in 2005-06 is as follows:
	
		
			  2005-06 
			
			 Sport England 1,501,202 
			 Department for Culture, Media and Sport 1,161,338 
			 UK Sport 435,000 
			 Total 3,097,540

Correspondence

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many letters were received by her Department from hon. Members in each of the last 12 months; how many such letters were responded to within  (a) 10 and  (b) 20 days of receipt; how many were answered after 20 days from the date of receipt; and if she will make a statement.

David Lammy: In the last 12 months the Department received 4,199 letters from hon. Members, broken down by month as follows:
	
		
			   Number 
			 January 2006 335 
			 February 2006 389 
			 March 2006 448 
			 April 2006 317 
			 May 2006 367 
			 June 2006 407 
			 July 2006 347 
			 August 2006 313 
			 September 2006 301 
			 October 2006 383 
			 November 2006 313 
			 December 2006 279 
			 Total 4,199 
		
	
	It is not possible to provide details of the dates that responses were sent in the format requested without incurring disproportionate cost. However, the Cabinet Office, on an annual basis, publishes a report to Parliament on the performance of departments in replying to Members'/Peers' correspondence. The report for 2005 was published on 30 March 2006,  Official Report, columns 75-78WS.

Digital Switchover

Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment she has made of the effect of digital switchover on energy consumption levels.

Margaret Hodge: I have been asked to reply.
	Digital switchover is expected to have an impact on both transmitter power usage and consumer power usage.
	Digital transmission is more efficient than analogue in terms of power usage. Replacing the analogue terrestrial transmission network with a nationwide digital terrestrial television network will lead to a significant net reduction in energy usage by the transmission networks, estimated to be 186 GWh per year.
	Consumer power usage is expected to rise as a result of switchover, primarily because of the rapid increase in the take-up of set-top boxes, particularly for second sets, which would not be otherwise converted until replaced. The predicted level of the increase is dependent on a number of assumptions about the usage and the design of equipment in the market at the time of switchover. DCMS, DTI and DEFRA economists have estimated that the increase in consumer energy use attributable to switchover in 2012 is likely to be between 966 GWh and 2,816 GWh per annum. The increase is equivalent to a 0.37 per cent. increase in domestic electricity consumption.
	The central estimate for the total impact of switchover is a net increase of 1,705 GWh per year, but this would be reduced if industry makes more energy-efficient products. Work on this is being taken forward as part of the DTI usability action plan.
	Further details are contained in the 'Regulatory and Environmental Impact Assessment: the timing of digital switchover', published on 16 September 2005. This was placed in the Libraries of the House at the time of publication, and is also available at http://www.digitaltelevision.gov.uk/consultations/con_ria_timingods.html

Digital Switchover

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what her estimate is of the number of households which will qualify for assistance in switching over to digital television in  (a) Coventry and  (b) the West Midlands.

Shaun Woodward: The details are in the table.
	
		
			  Constituency  Households (defined as eligible benefit units) 
			 Aldridge-Brownhills 11,000 
			 Birmingham, Edgbaston 10,000 
			 Birmingham, Erdington 13,000 
			 Birmingham, Hall Green 10,000 
			 Birmingham, Hodge Hill 10,000 
			 Birmingham, Ladywood 10,000 
			 Birmingham, Northfield 10,000 
			 Birmingham, Perry Barr 11,000 
			 Birmingham, Selly Oak 11,000 
			 Birmingham, Sparkbrook and Small Heath 12,000 
			 Birmingham, Yardley 9,000 
			 Bromsgrove 10,000 
			 Burton 11,000 
			 Cannock Chase 12,000 
			 Coventry North East 12,000 
			 Coventry North West 13,000 
			 Coventry South 12,000 
			 Dudley North 12,000 
			 Dudley South 10,000 
			 Halesowen and Rowley Regis 11,000 
			 Hereford 12,000 
			 Leominster 12,000 
			 Lichfield 9,000 
			 Ludlow 10,000 
			 Meriden 11,000 
			 Mid Worcestershire 11,000 
			 Newcastle-under-Lyme 11,000 
			 North Shropshire 12,000 
			 North Warwickshire 11,000 
			 Nuneaton 11,000 
			 Redditch 8,000 
			 Rugby and Kenilworth 11,000 
			 Shrewsbury and Atcham 11,000 
			 Solihull 13,000 
			 South Staffordshire 10,000 
			 Stafford 10,000 
			 Staffordshire Moorlands 11,000 
			 Stoke-on-Trent Central 11,000 
			 Stoke-on-Trent North 11,000 
			 Stoke-on-Trent South 14,000 
			 Stone 10,000 
			 Stourbridge 10,000 
			 Stratford-on-Avon 12,000 
			 Sutton Coldfield 10,000 
			 Tamworth 10,000 
			 Telford 10,000 
			 The Wrekin 11,000 
			 Walsall North 12,000 
			 Walsall South 10,000 
			 Warley 10,000 
			 Warwick and Leamington 12,000 
			 West Bromwich East 11,000 
			 West Bromwich West 12,000 
			 West Worcestershire. 12,000 
			 Wolverhampton North East 10,000 
			 Wolverhampton South East 10,000 
			 Wolverhampton South West 11,000 
			 Worcester 10,000 
			 Wyre Forest 12,000 
			   
			 West Midlands Government Office Area 645,000 
			  Notes: 1. Totals rounded to the nearest thousand. 2. Eligibility for help from the Digital Switchover Help Scheme will be by benefit unit rather than the whole household definition used by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLC) the Scottish Executive, the Welsh Assembly Government and the Northern Ireland Office to forecast future household growth. 3. The definition of a benefit unit is a couple and any dependent children. It excludes adults deemed to be non-dependents who, if eligible, will be able to claim assistance from the Help Scheme in their own right.

Genesis Review

Kate Hoey: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when the Genesis Review on developing sporting talent commissioned by Sport England will be published; what the cost was of the review; what the terms of reference were of the Genesis Review; and what the review recommended.

Richard Caborn: The Genesis Review on developing sporting talent commissioned by Sport England was published on 29 August 2006. The cost of the review was 49,749 exclusive of VAT.
	The terms of reference of the Genesis Review are provided as follows:
	A sport's ability to articulate in a written document the athlete pathway (e.g. Long Term Athlete Development framework/performer development model) including:
	(a) The player curriculum;
	(b) The sport's competition programme (competition framework);
	(c) The athlete pathway and support structures (e.g. clubs/squads/etc);
	(d) The nature of talent, and requisite attributes for identification/selection;
	(e) The constituent parts of an appropriate 'performance environment' (e.g. club).
	The application of the athlete pathway to the sports programmes and operations (e.g. club development programmes/coach education systems).
	The capacity of the NGB to lead talent development in the community setting including the development of coaching excellence.
	The key geographical areas in which the sport may have the ability to deliver support to talented athletes (given viable improvements).
	The recommendations of the review are as follows:
	 Rec 1:
	Following its recent structural and staff changes, Sport England should re-establish its understanding of national governing bodies and their sports; seeking to understand them, know them, support them, challenge their thinking and, where possible, provide them with the resources to deliver their plansto hold them to account but not to judge them.
	Sport England should support, as appropriate, all the sports under the scope of the review so that the breadth of choice remains for those participants and prospective participants who may not be attracted to the major sportsand may even dislike them!
	 Rec 2:
	Sport England should work with the NGBs to identify where new investment will have most impact, building on the findings outlined in the report. This will mean funding different areas and different levels for different sports, as their needs dictate e.g. for one sport, investment in community clubs may be most appropriate; for others, it could be the development or strengthening of county or even regional centres of excellence; and for some of the smaller sports, this may mean providing them with help to develop their plans in greater detail.
	 Rec 3:
	Sport England should devise an application process to enable funding to be released as quickly as possible, as many NGBs already have robust plans in place and have identified key areas for investment.
	 Rec 4:
	Sport England should acknowledge that differing sports are at different stages of evolution in their talent development programmes and will require different types and levels of support.
	 Rec 5:
	Sport England should ensure that all sports are supported in the most appropriate way for them. Sport England, while working through its regions, should not lose sight of the bigger national picture for each of its sports. Sport England regions will determine which sports they can provide substantive support to but Sport England must ensure there is a mechanism in place to support other, smaller sports.
	Sport England must ensure that sports can deliver national programmes, albeit with regional variations.
	 Rec 6:
	Sport England should seek to play a role that individual NGBs would find difficult or impossible to do for themselves.
	Sport England should seek to add value to the work of the NGBs by providing services that they would find difficult to resource/provide themselves.
	An audit of all available facilities in county/region and of the sports' needs for that county/region followed by liaison with local authorities and other providers to ensure the optimum affordable use of all available facilities. Greater use could be made of the Facilities Planning Model, not just for facility development, but also for the development of talent.
	Providing support services for smaller NGBs that lack the infrastructure to do keep up to speed with the various developments in sport.
	Ensuring co-ordinated action across the regional sports boards and county sports partnerships.

National Lottery

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much funding the Big Lottery Fund has provided for sports programmes and projects in  (a) London and  (b) Bexley borough since 2004-05.

Richard Caborn: The Big Lottery Fund has made the following awards in London and Bexley borough through its programmes which specifically benefit sport since 2004-05:
	
		
			   
			   London  Of which: Bexley borough 
			 New opportunities for PE and sport 87,093,128 1,874,000 
			 Active England 14,465,000 148,709 
			 Out of school hours/school sports co-ordinators 4,861,398 0 
		
	
	Active England is a joint programme with Sport England. The Big Lottery Fund has provided 77.5 million and Sport England 31 million.
	In addition the Big Lottery Fund has made various grants which benefit sport via its non-sport programmes but the value of these is not known.

National Lottery: Post Office

Hugo Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport on how many occasions since 1997 National Lottery funding has been distributed to community projects for the support of post offices.

Richard Caborn: It is not possible to answer the question in precisely the terms asked. My Department's Lottery Grants Database, which uses information supplied by the Lottery distributors and can be searched at www.lottery.culture.gov.uk, records 40 awards in which the phrase 'post office' occurs in the project description. Approximately one-third of these are to do with village halls or other community facilities buildings which provide, among other functions, post office services. The other awards listed were made for a variety of purposes. For example, there are two awards to groups of post office pensioners, one to an adult education project also supported by Consignia plc, and several to projects which happen to be located near a post office.

Olympic Games

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what events or initiatives are planned to ensure that the West Midlands is involved in the 2012 Olympic games.

Richard Caborn: The Government are committed to ensuring that the whole of the UK, including the West Midlands, can contribute to and benefit from the 2012 Olympic games and Paralympic games. We are working closely with the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) and the Nations and Regions Group (NRG), chaired by Charles Allen, which brings together representatives from every nation and region. Each nation and region is developing its own plan to maximise the impact of the games in its area, as well as the wider opportunities to deliver a sustainable legacy from the games.
	The West Midlands Leadership Group for the 2012 games (the regional steering group) will be working with LOCOG to maximise the opportunities of the London 2012 Volunteering Strategy for the region. Advantage West Midlands, the regional development agency for the West Midlands, will also be hosting business opportunities workshops over the forthcoming months in partnership with West Midlands Business Council, including providing more detailed guidance on procurement opportunities.
	LOCOG is also developing its plans for how the Cultural Olympiad will be delivered in the regions, and has conducted a tour of the regions to establish how best to make the festival a truly UK-wide event. LOCOG's plans currently include a nationwide torch relay, and we are currently setting up the Legacy Trust, to support cultural and sporting programmes designed to support the games, across the UK. Coventry will also host the UK Schools games in 2007.
	LOCOG will be working, through the Nations And Regions Groups and through a comprehensive ticketing strategy, to ensure that as many people as possible throughout the UK can participate in the games by attending events. Further detailed information regarding plans for future involvement and activities can be provided for the West Midlands by the relevant NRG co-ordinator, Jenny Drew (Culture West Midlands, The Regional Partnership Centre, Albert House, Quay Place, Edward Street, Birmingham, B1 2RA).

Seminars

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what seminars have been hosted by her Department in the last 12 months.

David Lammy: The information is as follows:
	Heritage Protection Regional SeminarManchester (October 2005)
	Heritage Protection Regional SeminarLondon (November 2005)
	Better Regulations initiative seminar(January 2006)
	Finance Directors Seminar(February 2006)
	NDPB Chief Executives' Seminar(March 2006)
	Strategic Risk Seminar(April 2006)
	Comprehensive Spending Review and Efficiency Programme Seminar(April 2006)
	Crisis Management Seminar(May 2006)
	Procurement Seminar for NDPB procurement community(September 2006)
	Built Environment and the Olympics Seminar(November 2006)
	Procurement workshop on sustainability(November 2006)
	Managing Conflicts of Interest in Charitable Museums Seminar(December 2006)
	Learning as part of the museums strategy Understanding the Future(December 2006)
	Climate Change Seminar(November 2006)
	Equality and Diversity Seminar for NDPBs(November 2006)
	NDPB Capability Review Seminar(November 2006)
	Meeting the Challenges of Demographic Change Seminar(November 2006)
	Conundrums of Reform Seminar(November 2006)

Sports Coaching

Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much  (a) Exchequer and  (b) Lottery funding (i) was put into sports coaching in each year since 1997 and (ii) is expected to be committed in each year to 2012.

Richard Caborn: holding answer 15 January 2007
	It is not possible to provide all the information requested without incurring disproportionate costs. However, we are able to provide the following funding information:
	The DCMS and DfES are spending nearly 70 million of exchequer funding on sports coaching between 2003-04 and 2007-08 to implement the key recommendations of the Coaching Task Force and support the National School Sport Strategy:
	
		
			   
			   DCMS funding  DfES funding  Total 
			 2003-04 3,000,000 n/a 3,000,000 
			 2004-05 9,000,000 210,000 9,210,000 
			 2005-06 15,400,000 570,000 15,970,000 
			 2006-07 16,000,000 3,500,000 19,500,000 
			 2007-08 16,000,000 4,069,000 20,069,000 
			 Total 59,400,000 8,349,000 67,749,000 
			 n/a = not applicable 
		
	
	Exchequer funding beyond 2008 is subject to the outcome of the comprehensive spending review.
	UK Sport and Sport England advise that they have allocated the following amounts of exchequer funding to support sports coach UK(scUK) since 1997. This is additional to the Coaching Task Force funding received by scUK.
	
		
			   
			   UK Sport funding  Sport England funding  Total 
			 1997-98 700,000 935,000 1,635,000 
			 1998-99 700,000 935,000 1,635,000 
			 1999-2000 770,000 935,000 1,705,000 
			 2000-01 745,000 935,000 1,680,000 
			 2001-02 745,000 935,000 1,680,000 
			 2002-03 745,000 935,000 1,680,000 
			 2003-04 715,000 935,000 1,650,000 
			 2004-05 500,000 1,055,000 1,555,000 
			 2005-06 500,000 1,050,000 1,550,000 
			 2006-07 500,000 1,055,000 1,555,000 
		
	
	UK Sport has allocated the following combined exchequer and lottery funding to the Elite Coach programme which aims to develop a new generation of elite coaches:
	
		
			   
			   UK Sportactual spend( 1)  UK Sport( 2) 
			 2004-05 402,000  
			 2005-06 688,000  
			 2006-07  1,205,000 
			 (1) To nearest thousand (2) Projected spend 
		
	
	UK Sport is also investing 215 million of combined exchequer and lottery funding in the Olympic and Paralympic World Class Pathway between 2005 and 2009. UK Sport estimate that around 20 per cent. of this funding is spent on sports coaching.
	Sport England advises that a number of its exchequer and lottery funding programmes and initiatives since 1997 will have benefited sports coaching, e.g. World Class Funding, Whole Sport Plans, Community Revenue, Community Capital and Community Investment Fund awards. It is not possible to disaggregate the specific amounts spent on coaching from the overall spending figures.

Wheelchair Basketball

Kate Hoey: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what plans she has to fund the Great Britain Wheelchair Basketball Association's development programmes.

Richard Caborn: In the period October 2006-March 2009 UK Sport will invest 643,000 in the World Class Development programme for wheelchair basketball. This money will support athletes nominated by the Great Britain Wheelchair Basketball Association (GBWBA) for the developmental level of the World Class Performance Pathway.
	In addition to this investment Sport England, UK Sport, the Youth Sport Trust and the British Paralympic Association have supported the development of a framework described as the 'playground to podium' pathway for disability sport. This framework is currently at draft stage and it is therefore not possible at present to say what level of funding will be available for individual disability sports.

Wheelchair Basketball

Kate Hoey: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps she is taking to help the Great Britain Wheelchair Basketball Association increase participation in wheelchair basketball.

Richard Caborn: Sport England, our non-departmental public body responsible for delivering our strategy on increasing participation, does not currently provide funding for the Great Britain Wheelchair Basketball Association. However, through Sport England and other key delivery partners including the National Governing Bodies, County Sports Partnerships and sports equity organisations, we continue to work towards delivering our public service agreement target to increase sports participation by 3 per cent. among disabled people by the year 2008.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Assets Recovery Agency

David Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the future of the Assets Recovery Agency in Northern Ireland.

Vernon Coaker: holding answer 15 January 2007
	I announced in a written statement on 11 January 2007,  Official Report, column 21WS, the Government's plans to merge the Assets Recovery Agency (ARA) with the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA). Nothing in the new proposals will take away from our efforts in tackling organised crime in Northern Ireland through the recovery of assets. Our aim is that they will improve and enhance our efforts to do so.
	In recognition of the high profile, public confidence and success achieved by ARA in Northern Ireland in tackling organised crime and dealing with organised criminals, SOCA will have a designated officer responsible for asset recovery work in Northern Ireland, and there will be no diminution in the resources available for assets recovery work there.
	Subject to the passing of the necessary legislation the merger is likely to come into force from April 2008.

Asylum Seekers

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people who have  (a) claimed asylum in and  (b) been removed from the UK since May 1997 have been deported once already.

Liam Byrne: The requested information is not available and could be obtained by an examination of individual case records only at disproportionate cost.
	Deportation proceedings are initiated either following a court recommendation as part of a sentence under section 3(6) of the Immigration Act 1971 or on the grounds that presence in the United Kingdom is not conducive to the public good under section 3(5) of the same Act.
	A deportation order remains in force until revoked and a deportee may not return to the United Kingdom during that time.

Asylum Seekers

Piara S Khabra: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many asylum seekers whose claims had been initially unsuccessful and who had exhausted their appeal rights have lodged new asylum applications since January 2004, broken down by  (a) nationality and  (b) sex.

Liam Byrne: A breakdown of new applications from asylum seekers whose claims were initially unsuccessful and who had exhausted their appeal rights, in the period 1 January 2004 to 19 December 2006 is included in the following table. This information is not part of published statistics. It is based on internal management information and is therefore subject to change.
	
		
			   Gender  
			  Country of origin  Female  Male  Total 
			 Afghanistan 10 70 80 
			 Algeria  10 10 
			 Angola  5 5 
			 Cameroon  5 5 
			 China (Peoples Republic of China)  5 5 
			 Colombia  5 5 
			 Congo Democratic Republic 10 20 30 
			 Eritrea 35 30 65 
			 Ethiopia 10  10 
			 Iran 10 30 40 
			 Iraq  5 5 
			 Ivory Coast (Cote D'Ivoire) 5  5 
			 Myanmar (Burma)  5 5 
			 Nigeria  5 5 
			 Pakistan 10 15 25 
			 Palestine  5 5 
			 Russia  5 5 
			 Rwanda  5 5 
			 Serbia and Montenegro  10 10 
			 Somalia 10 25 35 
			 Sri Lanka 5 30 35 
			 Sudan  5 5 
			 Syria  5 5 
			 Togo  5 5 
			 Turkey 5 25 30 
			 Uganda 5 5 10 
			 Zimbabwe 10 10 20 
			 Other nationalities 15 35 50 
			 Total 140 380 520 
			  Note: Figures are provisional and rounded to the nearest five.

Asylum Seekers

Piara S Khabra: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what targets are set by his Department for reaching decisions on new applications for people whose claims had been initially unsuccessful and who had exhausted their appeal rights.

Liam Byrne: When a failed asylum seeker who has exhausted his appeal rights submits further representations, it is the task of the caseworker to decide whether those representations amount to a fresh claim.
	We do not set specific targets for reaching decisions on these claims as they represent a very small number of cases. It is the aim of IND to consider and make decisions on applications within a reasonable time scale.

Asylum Seekers

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what investigations his Department is carrying out in relation to the conduct of the examination of asylum applications from Uganda.

Liam Byrne: Asylum applications by nationals of Uganda are individually and impartially determined on their merits in accordance with our obligations under the 1951 Refugee Convention. Each application is carefully considered in the light of the country information available in the published Home Office Country Report and related sources of information.

Asylum Seekers

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when investigations of a senior caseworker's conduct of asylum applications from Uganda will be completed.

Liam Byrne: Investigations of the allegations are continuing and will be completed as soon as we can be satisfied that all the issues raised have been appropriately considered.

Asylum Seekers

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what procedures are in place through which asylum applicants can submit complaints about officials.

Liam Byrne: Asylum applicants should make complaints, giving full details in writing (in English), by post, e-mail or fax to:
	IND Complaints Unit
	PO Box 1384
	Croydon
	Surrey
	CR9 3YJ
	Email: ind.cu@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk
	Fax: 020 8760 4310
	Full details on how to complain are given on IND's website at:
	http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/contactus/complaints
	All complaints about the behaviour of IND staff are thoroughly investigated and we aim to provide a response within eight weeks.

Asylum Seekers

Andrew Pelling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress has been made on the New Asylum Model target on the recruitment and training of new staff.

Liam Byrne: The establishment of 25 non-detained regional asylum teams under the New Asylum Model (NAM), to work alongside the Detained Fast Track teams, was achieved by the target of December 2006. All NAM case owners will have completed the 55 day Foundation Training Programme by March 2007. We have also provided tailored management development programmes for team leaders, senior caseworkers and workflow managers. We are on target for all new asylum applications to be dealt with by NAM teams from April 2007.

Asylum Seekers

James Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department further to the replies of 19 December 2006,  Official Report, column 1944W, on asylum seekers, what factors led to the modification of the family indefinite leave to remain exercise by the replacement note of 12 June 2006; what steps were taken to publicise this change; and if he will make a statement.

Liam Byrne: We modified the terms of the family indefinite leave to remain exercise because as originally drafted the policy excluded families for non-recordable criminal offences, and did not make it explicit that compassionate factors could be taken into account.
	The revised policy document was published on the Home Office website. A letter outlining the principal changes was circulated to stakeholders, including the main representatives' organisations.

Asylum Seekers

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many asylum seekers accommodated in  (a) England,  (b) Cambridgeshire,  (c) Peterborough city council unitary authority and  (d) Peterborough constituency were granted (i) asylum and (ii) indefinite leave to remain in each of the last 10 years; and how many illegal immigrants who had been accommodated in each area were deported in each of the last 10 years.

Liam Byrne: Information on numbers of asylum applications and decision outcomes relating to asylum seekers in particular areas of the UK is unavailable, as are statistics regarding the location of asylum seekers not in receipt of support from IND. The number of illegal immigrants deported from each area in the last 10 years is not available.
	The numbers of asylum seekers in receipt of support from IND, broken down by Government office region and local authority, are published on a quarterly and annual basis, as are asylum decisions in the UK as a whole. The latest publication covering the third quarter of 2006 is available on the Home Office Research Development and Statistics website at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html. Further breakdowns, of those in receipt of support from IND, by parliamentary constituency are also available from the Library of the House.

BAE Systems

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  how many outgoing requests for mutual legal assistance from the UK have been transmitted to  (a) Saudi Arabia,  (b) Chile,  (c) Romania,  (d) Tanzania and  (e) South Africa as part of investigations into BAE Systems;
	(2)  what the originating legal authority in the UK was of each outgoing mutual legal request relating to BAE Systems; what the date was of each request; to which country each request was sent; and how long it took for each request to be completed and returned to the originating authority.

Joan Ryan: Correspondence between the UK and other countries relating to mutual legal assistance is by its very nature confidential in order to protect the integrity of any ongoing criminal investigation. It therefore follows that the Home Office can neither confirm nor deny that such requests have been received, considered or made by UK authorities.

Citizenship Applications: Armed Services

Gordon Banks: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applications for citizenship were received from members of Commonwealth countries while serving in UK armed forces in each of the last 10 years.

Liam Byrne: Statistics on applications for British citizenship are not collated in such a way as to enable me to provide this information; and this information could only be obtained by the examination of individual case records at disproportionate costs.

Correspondence

John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the Immigration and Nationality Department MPs' Parliamentary Business Unit will respond to the letter of the hon. Member for Edinburgh, West of 10 October on his constituent, Ms Husniye Mecit, ref. H1099905.

Liam Byrne: I wrote to the hon. Member on 11 December.

Data Protection

Mark Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many reported incidences there have been of staff using legitimate access to databases to browse data for which they had no business requirement in each of the last five years.

Liam Byrne: holding answer 18 December 2006
	The following figures depict recorded instances of staff using their database access for reasons for which they had no business requirements:
	
		
			   Number 
			 2002 5 
			 2003 1 
			 2004 1 
			 2005 4 
			 2006 8 
		
	
	Responsibility for dealing with misconduct rests largely with line managers, who can deal with minor acts of misconduct informally or commission investigations, and if appropriate take formal disciplinary action, such as issuing warnings and authorising dismissal, for more serious acts. Such incidents may not be recorded centrally.

Disorder Penalty Notices

James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what guidance his Department has issued to police forces on the use of penalty notices for disorder in preference to other means of disposing of a particular offence.

Vernon Coaker: Under powers given by section 6 of the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001, the Secretary of State has issued operational guidance on penalty notices for disorder (PND) to all police forces in England and Wales. The guidance sets out, among other things, the circumstances in which it is appropriate to issue a PND and where it is not, for example when a victim may wish to seek compensation through the criminal courts. Although it is not legally binding, it is expected that officers will adhere to this guidance when considering whether or not to issue a PND.
	In addition, there is separate guidance to forces on the issue of PNDs to young persons aged 16-17 years. There is also guidance for community support officers and for accredited persons on their powers to issue PNDS.

Disorder Penalty Notices

James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were sentenced to  (a) a fine,  (b) a term of imprisonment and  (c) some other form of sanction for breach of a penalty notice for disorder in each of the last four years for which figures are available.

Vernon Coaker: holding answer 18 January 2007
	Penalty notices for disorder (PNDs) were introduced under the provisions of the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001. Under the PND scheme, police may issue a fixed penalty of either 50 or 80 for a range of minor disorder offences. The recipient of a PND has 21 days from the date of issue in which either to pay the fine or to request a court hearing. Failure to do either will normally result in the PND being registered as a fine against the recipient at one and a half times the penalty amount or, in exceptional circumstances, in proceedings against them for the penalty offence. No other sanction is currently available to deal with non-compliance of a PND.
	As the PND scheme was introduced during 2004, data are only available for 2004 and 2005. In 2004, 63,639 PNDs were issued of which 28,180 were registered as fines. In 2005, 146,481 PNDs were issued of which 62,174 were registered as fines.

DNA Database

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department in how many and what percentage of criminal cases familial searching of the National DNA Database was conducted in 2006.

Joan Ryan: One hundred and fifteen familial searches were run on the National DNA Database in 2006. The number of cases is 113, as in two operations, two familial searches were carried out. The number of offences recorded for the year 2006 is not yet available. The number recorded in England and Wales for the year April 2005 to March 2006 is 5,742,600, so the percentage of cases in which familial searching is used is very small.

DNA Database

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of offenders convicted of an offence in each year since 1995 have their profile on the National DNA Database.

John Reid: I refer the right hon. Gentleman to the answers I gave to his questions numbered 108679 and 108680 on 9 January 2007,  Official Report, columns 540W and 541W respectively.

Dog Fouling and Litter

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many  (a) prosecutions have been made and  (b) fixed penalty notices have been issued by each local authority in Gloucestershire for (i) dog fouling and (ii) dropping of litter in each of the last three years.

Vernon Coaker: holding answer 11 January 2007
	Data from the court proceedings database held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform on the number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts in the Gloucestershire police force area for offences relating to the Dogs (Fouling of Land) Act 1996, and the offence of depositing litter, for the years 2002 to 2005, are provided in Table 1. This information is not collected at local authority level.
	The number of fixed penalty notices issued for the offence of dog fouling and dropping litter in all local authorities in Gloucestershire is provided in Table 3. These data are submitted on an annual basis by local authorities to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
	In addition, the penalty notice for disorder (PND) scheme was introduced in England and Wales in 2004. Under the scheme the police are able to issue persons suspected of committing specified minor offences, including littering, with a fixed penalty notice of 50. No admission of guilt is required and payment of the penalty discharges all liability to conviction for the offence. The number of PNDs issued for littering in Gloucestershire police force area for the years 2004-06 (January to June 2006 provisional data) can be found in Table 2. PNDs cannot currently be issued for the offence of dog fouling.
	
		
			  Number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts for offences relating to Dogs (Fouling of Land) Act 1996 in Gloucestershire police force area, 2003 -05( 1 ,2) 
			Proceeded against 
			  Statute  Offence  2003  2004  2005 
			 Dogs (Fouling of Land) Act 1996 Sec.3. Dog defecates on designated land and person in charge of dog fails to remove faeces from land forthwith. 2 2 1 
			 Environmental Protection Act 1990 Sec.87. Depositing litter. 1 3 1 
			 Total  3 5 2 
			 1 These data are on the principal offence basis.  2 Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.   Note:  Court proceedings database is unable to separately identify those offences which relate to murder, manslaughter, common assault and battery to children or young persons under the age of 18. 
		
	
	
		
			  Number of Penalty Notices for Disorder issued for depositing and leaving litter in Gloucestershire police force area, 2004-06 
			   Depositing and leaving litter 
			 2004  
			 2005 2 
			 2006 (January to June 2006 Provisional data) 2 
			 Total 4 
		
	
	
		
			  Number of Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) issued by Gloucestershire for dog fouling offences under the Dogs Fouling of Land Act 1996 and for Litter under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 
			   Local authority  Dog Fouling  Litter 
			 2002-03 Gloucester CC 0 0 
			 2003-04  0 0 
			 2004-05  1 1 
			 2005-06  0 4 
			 2002-03 Cheltenham 0 0 
			 2003-04  0 0 
			 2004-05  0 15 
			 2005-06  0 6 
			 
			 2002-03 Stroud 0 0 
			 2003-04  0 0 
			 2004-05  0 0 
			 2005-06  0 0 
			 
			 2002-03 Cotswold 0 0 
			 2003-04  0 0 
			 2004-05  0 0 
			 2005-06  0 0 
			 
			 2002-03 Forest of Dean 0 0 
			 2003-04  0 0 
			 2004-05  0 0 
			 2005-06  0 0 
			 
			 2002-03 Tewkesbury 0 0 
			 2003-04  0 0 
			 2004-05  0 0 
			 2005-06  0 0

Domestic Violence

Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many murders resulting from domestic violence there were in each of the last 10 years; and how many people  (a) were charged with,  (b) pleaded guilty to charges of and  (c) were convicted of domestic violence offences in each of the last 10 years.

Tony McNulty: holding answer 12 December 2006
	Available information was published in 'Violent Crime Overview, Homicide and Gun Crime 2004/2005' (HOSB 02/06) and relates to currently recorded offences of homicide (murder, manslaughter and infanticide) where the relationship of the victim to the principal suspect includes current or former spouse or lover. See following table.
	
		
			  Homicides currently( 1)  recorded for all victims by relationship of victim to principal suspectEngland and Wales 1994 to 2004-05 
			  Number (recorded crime) 
			   Partner/ex-partner  Total 
			 1994 131 632 
			 1995 131 663 
			 1996 118 585 
			 1997 130 609 
			 1997-98 131 608 
			 1998-99 103 646 
			 1999-2000 112 674 
			 2000-01 125 771 
			 2001-02 146 804 
			 2002-03 135 953 
			 2003-04 118 793 
			 2004-05 139 820 
			 (1) As at 28 November 2005. Figures are subject to revision as cases are dealt with by the police and by the courts, or as further information becomes available.  Source: Table 2.05 of HOSB 02/05 
		
	
	From the information collected centrally on recorded crime and court proceedings, it is not possible to identify cases of domestic violence. Such offences are not specifically defined by statute and details of the individual circumstances of offences are not collected by the Home Office.

European Crime Report

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the proposed EU legislation for the development of the European Crime Report; and what its legal base is.

Joan Ryan: The Hague Action Plan lists as one of its intended objectives the delivery of a European Crime Report in 2007. The Government support in principle any measure that will improve the gathering and analysis of comparable information across member states that could help combat organised and serious crime. However, until we have seen a draft of the proposed European Crime Report it is impossible to comment in any detail on either its content or its legal base.

Family Indefinite Leave to Remain

James Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many out of time applications have been received for the family indefinite leave to remain exercise since 31 December 2004; how many such applications have been granted; and what the Government's policy is on the length of time for which out of time applications will continue to be accepted.

Liam Byrne: Information on the number of out of time applications received by the family indefinite leave to remain (ILR) exercise since 31 December 2004 and the number of these subsequently granted ILR is unavailable and would be obtainable only by examination of individual case files, at disproportionate cost.
	As my right hon. Friend the Member for Stretford and Urmston (Beverley Hughes), then Minister for Citizenship and Immigration, explained in her letter to MPs of 29 October 2003, the family indefinite leave to remain exercise is not an application-based exercise but one in which it is for the Immigration and Nationality Directorate to identify eligible families.
	We requested applications in 2004 to accelerate the process of identifying those who qualified, giving priority to applications submitted before 31 December 2004. Late applications were considered but not prioritised. We believe we have identified all families who might qualify under the exercise but will consider others if they come to light.
	Information on the family ILR exercise is published in quarterly web pages and in the annual statistical bulletin Asylum Statistics United Kingdom. Copies of these publications and others relating to general immigration to the UK are available from the Library of the House and from the Home Office Research Development and Statistics Directorate website at:
	http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html

Family Indefinite Leave to Remain

James Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many cases have been referred to the specialist unit responsible for assessing article 8 cases from the family indefinite leave to remain exercise; and how many such cases have resulted in the granting of leave to remain.

Liam Byrne: Information on the number of cases referred to the Enforcement and Removals Directorate for consideration under article 8 from the Family ILR Exercise and the outcome of these cases is unavailable and would only be obtainable by examination of individual case files, at disproportionate cost.

Foreign National Prisoners

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will publish the findings of his Department's inquiry into the issues faced by the Immigration and Nationality Department following the release of foreign national prisoners in May 2005.

Liam Byrne: The Director General of the Immigration Nationality Directorate, Lin Homer, wrote to the Home Affairs Committee on 29 October 2006 providing an update on foreign national prisoners. This update set out the purpose of the review and explained that the Director General would share its findings with the Home Affairs Committee in the early part of this year.

Gurdev Singh

Patrick Hall: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects Mr. Gurdev Singh to be returned to India in accordance with the assurance given by his staff to the Immigration Court at Newport (Gwent) on 21 September.

Liam Byrne: I wrote to the hon. Member on 9 January 2007.

Harmondsworth

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  when his Department asked for a payout from the contractor Kalyx with regard to its contractual failures at Harmondsworth detention centre;
	(2)  what the contractual failures at Harmondsworth detention centre were that led to the payout from the contractor Kalyx in September 2006.

Liam Byrne: The contract under which the Harmondsworth Removal Centre is occupied and managed by the contractor includes a dispute resolution procedure which is founded upon the Arbitration Act 1996. English law requires such disputes to remain confidential to the parties. Therefore, it is not open to the Secretary of State to disclose detail of the disputes without the consent of the other contracting party.
	The Secretary of State was able to disclose the amount of the settlement to Parliament. It should be noted that pursuant to the Lord Chancellor's pledge that Government Departments would utilise alternative dispute resolution wherever possible the parties entered into a mediation agreement with a senior member of the bar which agreement contained a confidentiality clause in line with the confidentiality attendant upon the arbitration of disputes. It follows that the Secretary of State cannot disclose details of the contractual points in issue or the date when they were first raised.

Harmondsworth

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what changes have been made to the contract with Kalyx following the incident at Harmondsworth detention centre on 29 November 2006.

Liam Byrne: No changes have been made to the contract between the Secretary of State for the Home Department and Harmondsworth Detention Services Ltd. Any changes deemed necessary will be considered and implemented through the contract change mechanism of the contract.

Identity Fraud

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people in Tamworth constituency reported being a victim of identity fraud in each of the last five years.

Joan Ryan: The information requested is not available centrally. Identity fraud is not a crime that is currently defined as such in law. At present most cases dealt with by the police, where a person's identity has been used unlawfully to obtain property, are dealt with as deception offences under the Theft Act 1968 and recorded in the Home Office classification for 'Other frauds'. However, deception offences cannot be separately identified from other offences recorded within the 'Other fraud' classification.
	In July 2006, the Home Office brought into force sections 25 and 26 of the Identity Cards Act 2006 which created new criminal offences of being in possession or control of false identity documents. Such offences are recorded under the 'Other forgery' classification but again cannot be separately identified from other offences within that classification.

Identity Management

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department for what reason it has been deemed necessary to co-ordinate Government policy and strategy on identity management; and what benefits he expects to accrue from this decision.

Joan Ryan: Effective identity management is central to aligning public services around the citizen and realising the goal of joined-up and personalised government.

National Identity Register

Nicholas Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many previous addresses an individual will be required to register with the National Identity Register.

John Reid: It is currently planned to ask all applicants for details of their addresses for the past six years. In a small minority of cases there may be a need to collect further information from an applicant about earlier addresses in order to validate his identity, for example, in the case of a British citizen who has just returned to the United Kingdom having lived six years abroad.

National Offender Manager Team

Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cost has been of the National Offender Manager (Wales) team since its establishment.

Gerry Sutcliffe: holding answer 22 November 2006
	The cumulative direct cost of the National Offender Management Service Wales team since its establishment in April 2005 is forecast to be 1,499,453 by the end of this financial year. This figure includes costs associated with the transfer of responsibilities for the contracted out prison estate in Wales, which were devolved from central NOMS budgets during the latter half of 2005.

Non-EEA Students: Northern Ireland

Mark Durkan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will grant non-European economic area students who enrolled in courses in Northern Ireland before the change in immigration rules which requires them to leave comes into force, leave to stay to complete their training.

Liam Byrne: On 7 March 2006, changes were announced to the immigration rules for postgraduate doctors and dentists to allow only those people who had done their undergraduate medical or dental study in the UK to be granted leave under those rules to complete a Foundation programme. Transitional arrangements were introduced for some categories of doctors who had already completed their undergraduate study. No additional measures were introduced for undergraduate medical students who had enrolled on a course in any part of the United Kingdom before the changes were announced, including in Northern Ireland. The changes do not affect undergraduate medical study.

Offender Management

Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what mechanisms he plans to put in place to provide for accountability of offender management services subcontracted to  (a) private and  (b) voluntary organisations.

Liam Byrne: Organisations subcontracted by the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) to provide offender management services are held to account through the operation of the contracts awarded to them. Under these contracts, such organisations are required to deliver services against specified standards and are penalised for poor performance. NOMS headquarters gives advice to probation services on how best to procure offender services and manage contracts for such services.

Personnel Checks

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what background checks his Department carries out on prospective employees regarding political affiliation that may affect the conduct of their work.

Liam Byrne: Home Office pre-appointment checks do not require prospective employees to declare their political affiliation.

Police

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the value was per capita of  (a) Home Office police grants,  (b) revenue support grants and  (c) revenue from business rates allocated to police forces in (i) Devon and Cornwall and (ii) England and Wales in each year since 1992.

Tony McNulty: The information requested where available is set out in the table.
	Police forces outside England and Wales are the responsibility of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and Secretary of State for Wales, and the Scottish Executive.
	The following table shows the data for Devon and Cornwall Police.
	
		
			   per head 
			   Revenue support grant per head  Redistributed business rates per head  Principal formula police grant  per head 
			 1995-96 14.18 18.72 n/a 
			 1996-97 13.46 20.65 n/a 
			 1997-98 15.26 19.72 50.14 
			 1998-99 16.25 19.44 54,00 
			 1999-2000 17.07 20.89 56.59 
			 2000-01 15.23 23.15 58.00 
			 2001-02 16.81 22.97 60.17 
			 2002-03 14.13 24.91 59.70 
			 Amended 2003-04 24.32 14.20 63.76 
			 Amended 2004-05 26.58 13.60 64.68 
			 Amended 2005-06 24.89 16.25 66.90 
			 2006-07 7.12 36.90 60.68 
		
	
	The following table shows the data for all police authorities in England, including the City of London, Please note that the City of London has responsibility for all services except fire within its area. It is not possible to say how much revenue support grant or redistributed business rates the City received for police, since these are unhypothecated block grants.
	
		
			   per head 
			   Revenue support grant per head  Redistributed business rates per head  Principal formula police grant per head 
			 1995-96 28.11 18.74 n/a 
			 1996-97 27.22 20.67 n/a 
			 1997-98 28.67 19.74 64.37 
			 1998-99 29.79 20.71 72.11 
			 1999-2000 29.27 20.92 71.12 
			 2000-01 27.95 23.18 73.29 
			 2001-02 30.61 23.00 76.34 
			 2002-03 28.43 24.94 76.17 
			 Amended 2003-04 40.13 14.24 82.50 
			 Amended 2004-05 35.20 13.64 83.95 
			 Amended 2005-06 43.40 16.30 87.31 
			 2006-07 10.11 52.39 77.96 
		
	
	The measure of population which was used in calculating the appropriate settlement has been used to calculate the per head data i.e. for the period 1995-96 to 2005-06, the mid-year estimates (e.g. for 2005-06, the mid-2003 population estimates) and for 2006-07 the 2006 sub-national population projections.
	The data are not comparable year on year owing to changes in the funding and function of authorities via the settlement. For example, in 2006-07 police pensions and security funding were transferred from police grant to special grant.
	 Source:
	Department for Communities and Local Government

Police

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what funding was allocated to police forces from  (a) his Department's police grants,  (b) revenue support grant and  (c) business rates (i) in Devon and Cornwall and (ii) on average for police authorities in England and Wales in each year since 1992.

Tony McNulty: The information requested where available is set out in the tables.
	The following table shows the data for Devon and Cornwall police.
	
		
			   million 
			   Revenue support grant  Redistributed business rates  Principal formula police grant 
			 1995-96 21.645854 28.564237 n/a 
			 1996-97 20.634598 31.649599 n/a 
			 1997-98 23.529124 30.391789 77.286547 
			 1998-99 25.066602 29.990786 83.298731 
			 1999-2000 26,480707 32.417704 87.803745 
			 2000-01 23.740096 36.084001 90.407760 
			 2001-02 26.380103 36.055866 94.453687 
			 2002-03 22.427334 39.519130 94.722350 
			 Amended 2003-04 38.395894 22.409659 100.652998 
			 Amended 2004-05 42.268369 21.622144 102.855500 
			 Amended 2005-06 39.860113 26.014741 107.128539 
			 2006-07 11.657297 60.389360 99.312098 
		
	
	The following table shows the total data for all police authorities in England, including the City of London. Please note that the City of London has responsibility for all services except fire within Its area. It is not possible to say how much revenue support grant or redistributed business rates the City received for police, since these are unhypothecated block grants. For this reason it is not possible to provide an average for police services.
	
		
			   million 
			   Revenue support grant  Redistributed business rates  Principal formula police grant 
			 1995-96 1,364.402953 909.433639  
			 1996-97 1,325.614389 1,006.781501  
			 1997-98 1,402.170448 965.322871 3,148.079868 
			 1998-99 1,462.450535 1,016.878085 3,539.811511 
			 1999-2000 1,442.342720 1,031.070720 3,505.318313 
			 2000-01 1,383.201424 1,147.206316 3,627.326830 
			 2001-02 1,522.932294 1,144.471886 3,798.253194 
			 2002-3 1,421.541069 1,247.174658 3,808.207933 
			 Amended 2003-4 1,984.608334 704.142795 4,079.553216 
			 Amended 2004-5 1,747.693924 677.146181 4,167.980717 
			 Amended 2005-6 2,163.778902 812.680263 4,352.685644 
			 2006-7 510.502465 2,644.602574 3,935.791054 
		
	
	The data are not comparable year on year owing to changes in the funding and function of authorities via the settlement. For example, in 2006-07 police pensions and security funding were transferred from police grant to special grant.
	 Source:
	Department for Communities and Local Government

Prison Service

Edward Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress has been made since the Report of HM Chief Inspector of Prisons in 2004-05 on tackling the use of wings not fit for habitation.

Gerry Sutcliffe: The National Offender Management Service takes seriously all recommendations made by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons. The maintenance and refurbishment of existing prison accommodation is managed as part of a rolling programme of work. Individual projects are considered for inclusion in the programme on the basis of a number of factors, including the changing priorities of building plans across the prison estate and the availability of funds from a limited budget.
	HM Chief Inspector of Prisons made this comment in her 2004-05 report specifically in respect of HMP Norwich, which is being taken forward in 2007 as part of NOMS' wing refurbishment programme.

Prison Service

Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Prison Service area managers have taken early retirement in each of the last three years; what the cost was of such retirements; and if he will make a statement.

Gerry Sutcliffe: holding answer 15 January 2007
	The number of Prison Service area managers who have taken early retirement within the last three years is shown in the following table.
	
		
			  Number of Prison Service managers taking early retirement in the last three years 
			  Calendar year  Number 
			 2004 1 
			 2005 1 
			 2006 1 
		
	
	The pension benefits and associated costs falling to the Department, and reasons for leaving in individual early retirement cases, is information considered personal and would therefore not be provided. The decision to consider and authorise early retirement, taken in these cases by Prison Service senior managers, was in accordance with the rules and criteria set out in the Civil Service Compensation scheme governing early retirement.

Prisons

Edward Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he is taking to increase the ease with which family members can book prison visits.

Gerry Sutcliffe: Procedures for booking visits vary from prison to prison and remain at the discretion of governors. However, in response to the difficulties in booking prison visits at a number of prisons, the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) has actively sought to improve visits booking facilities and procedures. This has been partly through the development of an electronic system for booking visits, which is available to prisons, and the publication of guidelines on practical ways of improving the arrangements. NOMS is also looking into the booking of visits by e-mail and in the longer term, a national fully integrated IT system to meet a number of business needs such as the management of visits booking.

Probation Service

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which  (a) private sector organisations and  (b) voluntary sector organisations have expressed an interest in undertaking work currently carried out by the probation service.

Gerry Sutcliffe: In August 2006, we published Improving Prison and Probation Services: Public Value Partnerships, which outlined the vision for contestability and indicated the pace and scale of change envisaged in the delivery of services to adult offenders. In response to this publication we have received general expressions of interest and requests for further information from a number of organisations from the public, private and voluntary sectors.
	These expressions of interest have been received both informally via established contact forums and more formally via the recently established NOMS National Provider Network registration website. To date 374 voluntary and community sector and 68 private sector organisations have registered an expression of interest via the website. However the website does not ask registrants whether they have a specific interest in undertaking work which is currently carried out by the probation service.
	Additionally, individual probation services will have been in contact with external organisations as part of their preparation of service delivery plans for 2007-08. Over the coming months, these plans will be the subject of discussion and negotiation with the NOMS commissioner for their region. Although the average value of contracts held is small, a recent survey indicated that the probation service as a whole currently holds more than 600 contracts/grants with external organisations, approximately 75 per cent. of which are from the voluntary and community sector.

Prostitution

Fiona Mactaggart: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many arrests there were by each police force of men who were attempting to buy sexual services on the street in the last period for which figures are available.

Tony McNulty: The information requested is not available centrally. Information on arrests is based on persons arrested for recorded crime (notifiable offences) by main offence group (i.e. sexual offences, theft and handling stolen goods, violence against the person, burglary etc.) and police force area within England and Wales. Information is therefore not available to the detail required.
	However, the following tables show the number of offenders cautioned and defendants found guilty at all courts for kerb crawling and soliciting offences, by gender and police force area in England and Wales in 2005.
	
		
			  Number of offenders cautioned and persons found guilty at all courts for kerb crawling and soliciting offences, by sex and police force area, England and Wales 2005( 1, 2) 
			   Cautions 
			   Kerb crawling  Persistent soliciting of women for the purposes of prostitution  Soliciting by a man 
			  Police force area  Male  Female  Male  Female  Male  Female 
			 Avon and Somerset 43  5
			 Bedfordshire 9  10
			 Cleveland 2  
			 Derbyshire 2  
			 Dorset 10  
			 Essex   1
			 Greater Manchester 2  
			 Humberside 11  
			 Kent 4  
			 Lancashire 6  2
			 Merseyside 1  
			 Metropolitan Police 8  2
			 Norfolk 1  
			 Nottinghamshire 80 1 14  12  
			 South Yorkshire 31  2
			 Suffolk 19  
			 Thames Valley   4
			 West Midlands 39  2
			 West Yorkshire 8  
			 South Wales 4  
			 England and Wales 269 1 42  23  
		
	
	
		
			   Convictions 
			   Kerb crawling  Persistent soliciting of women for the purposes of prostitution  Soliciting by a man 
			  Police force area  Male  Female  Male  Female  Male  Female 
			 Avon and Somerset 1  
			 Bedfordshire 1  
			 Cleveland 106 3 
			 Derbyshire 16  
			 Essex 1  
			 Greater Manchester 7 1 9
			 Hampshire 7  
			 Lancashire 21  
			 Merseyside 5  2
			 Metropolitan Police 286 2 2  1  
			 Northamptonshire 42  1
			 Nottinghamshire 16  
			 South Yorkshire 8  1
			 Staffordshire 14  4
			 Suffolk 5  
			 West Midlands 66  12
			 West Yorkshire 45  3
			 South Wales 1  
			 England and Wales 629 6 34  2  
			 (1) These data are provided on the principal offence basis (2) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the police forces and courts. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.  Source: RDSOffice for Criminal Justice Reform Our Ref IOS 106-06

Trade Union Funding

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what funding his Department has given to individual trade unions in the last three years.

Liam Byrne: The Home Department has not provided any direct funding to individual trade unions during the past three years. The Department does, however, provide facilities to a number of recognised trade unions which represent staff within the Department.

Turkey: EU Accession

James Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the implications for net migration to the UK of the possible accession by Turkey to the EU.

Liam Byrne: The Commission assessed the effects of Turkish membership on the EU including migration before the EU opened negotiations with Turkey. The UK Government have drawn on this in formulating their approach to Turkish membership.
	Any assessment of the implications for net migration to the UK would be affected by the functioning of the countries' economies at the time of accession, the level of access granted to the UK labour market, and the decisions of other member states on labour market access. The issue of migration will be analysed in more detail during the accession negotiations and as the positions of the above factors become clearer, nearer the point of accession.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Autumn Performance Report

Oliver Heald: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether he intends to publish an Autumn Performance Report for his Department.

John Prescott: Under guidance, Publication of 2006 Autumn Performance Reports (PES 2006/09), published by HM Treasury on 8 August 2006, my Office is not required to publish an Autumn Performance Report. A copy of the guidance is available on the Treasury website at:
	http://www.hm-treasury.gsi.gov.uk/psd/pes_papers/pespaper/pespaper_2006/pes0609.htm
	A copy has also been placed in the Library for the reference of Members.

DUCHY OF LANCASTER

Cabinet Office: Foreign Travel

Oliver Heald: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what the Cabinet Office's expenditure on foreign travel was, including accommodation, in  (a) 1996-97 and  (b) 2005-06.

Hilary Armstrong: For expenditure on ministerial travel, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister to the hon. Member for Blaby (Mr. Robathan) on 19 December 2006,  Official Report, column. 1808W.
	For civil servants, the Cabinet Office financial system does not differentiate between domestic and overseas travel. To establish these costs manually would incur disproportionate costs.
	All official travel in my Department is undertaken strictly in accordance with the rules contained in the Cabinet Office Management Code.

Community Channel

Tim Loughton: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster whether her Department has commissioned research on the number of people who watch the community channel.

Edward Miliband: The Cabinet Office has not commissioned research on the number of people who watch the community channel as they are provided by BARB (Broadcasters' Audience Research Board). Figures from BARB for 2006 show that between 1.4 and 2.3 million viewers watched the community channel per month.

Community Channel

Tim Loughton: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what her estimate is of the number of people who watched the community channel in each of the last 12 months.

Edward Miliband: The community channel broadcasts 24 hours a day, every day on Sky 539, ntl: Telewest 233 and from 6-9 am on Freeview 87. The number of viewers for the last 12 months are as follows:
	
		
			  2006  Number of viewers 
			 January 2,355,000 
			 February 1,897,000 
			 March 2,021,000 
			 April 2,127,000 
			 May 1,998,000 
			 June 1,473,000 
			 July 1,938,000 
			 August 2,204,000 
			 September 2,185,000 
			 October 1,804,000 
			 November 1,668,000 
			 December 1,993,000 
		
	
	These figures are from BARB (Broadcasters' Audience Research Board). The channel's best programmes are also available 24 hours a day, seven days a week via its online video player at video.communitychannel.org

Community Channel

Tim Loughton: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how much public funding has been provided for the community channel in each of the last five years.

Edward Miliband: The community channel is a national digital television station dedicated to highlighting issues from the voluntary and community sector and from local and international communities. The channel not only raises awareness, but also provides a means for charitable giving, where viewers can use the interactive services to pledge money. The Government funding for the channel is shown in the following table:
	
		
			   Government (Home Office ACU/ Cabinet Office) 
			 2002-03 400,000 
			 2003-04 950,000 
			 2004-05 1,634,000 
			 2005-06 1,200,000 
			 2006-07 1,088,000 
			 Total 5,272,500 
		
	
	Further to this the lottery community fund gave 350,000 in 2002-03 and 250,000 in 2003-04.

Correspondence

Paul Burstow: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many letters to her Department sent from hon. Members during Session 2005-06 remain unanswered, broken down by those which are  (a) one,  (b) two,  (c) three,  (d) four and  (e) over six months old.

Edward Miliband: At 17 January 2007, there are no unanswered letters over a month old from hon. Members received during Session 2005-06.

Departmental Travel

Mark Francois: To ask the Minister without Portfolio how much  (a) she and  (b) her staff claimed in taxi receipts from the public purse in the last 12 months.

Hazel Blears: Since my appointment in May 2006, I have not claimed any money from the public purse for taxi fares. During the course of their official duties my staff have incurred taxi expenses of 189.00.

Social Enterprise Start-ups

Margaret Moran: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many contracts were granted to social enterprises by  (a) Government Departments and  (b) local authorities in each of the last five years; and what the value was of each.

Edward Miliband: Central and local government do not maintain statistical records of contracts and their value granted to social enterprise.
	Government are committed to removing barriers to social enterprise and other third sectors providers playing an increased role in the delivery of public services, and Partnership in Public ServicesAn action plan for the third sector, published on 6 December 2006 will support measures to improve evidence about the sector's access to contracts.

Special Advisers

Mark Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many staff paid for by the public purse work full-time to support special advisers for the Minister without Portfolio.

Hilary Armstrong: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 4 December 2006,  Official Report, column 190W.

Statistics

Theresa May: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what the process is for deciding the date of publication of statistics prepared by or relating to her Department; and who is involved in that process.

Hilary Armstrong: The National Statistics code of practice (2002)which serves as a model for all public sector statistical workestablished the principle that 'final responsibility for the content, format and timing of release of National Statistics' rests with the head of profession for statistics in each department. In reaching their decisions, heads of profession take into consideration the detailed procedural guidance given in the National Statistics Protocol on Release Practices.
	Copies of the code and its 12 supporting protocols are available in the Library for the reference of Members and can also be accessed from the following address:
	http://www.statistics.gov.uk/about/national_statistics/cop/default.asp

V Charity

Mark Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how much in public funds has been spent on the charity v.

Edward Miliband: The Government announced in Budget 2005 that up to 100 million of public funds would be available for funding the Russell Commission framework through v over the period of 2006-09. The Cabinet Office has 50 million to implement the 16 Russell Commission recommendations, most of which will go to v. A small amount is being retained by the Cabinet Office to support the implementation of recommendations which the Government are responsible for. The Treasury will match fund money v raises from the private sector on a pound for pound basis up to a maximum of 50 million.
	The charity v has received funding from the Cabinet Office, through the Office of the Third Sector, to cover three specific project grants in addition to the strategic funding which covers management and administration costs. Additionally, through the match funding scheme, v has received public funds from the Treasury Reserve to match funding provided by the private sector.
	v has received, up to 5 January 2006, grants covering the following:
	
		
			
			 Volunteering opportunities projects 3,737,500 
			 Marketing and communications 1,770,000 
			 Web portal development 2,285,000 
			 Strategic funding 2,000,000 
			 Match funding projects 3,642,334 
		
	
	v has also raised pledges from the private sector of over 17 million.
	The volunteering opportunities project grant has to date resulted in the creation of over 42,000 volunteering opportunities. This funding enabled v to undertake a range of volunteering opportunities v project funding round for short-term, part-time, and long-term projects, as well as the development of volunteer development teams. These programmes provide opportunities for young people to engage with their community, develop skills, increase confidence, meet other young people, reduce feelings of social exclusion and extend their opportunities for training and/or employment. Over 19,000 volunteering opportunities are expected to be provided through the match funding projects.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

ASEAN

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent representations she has made in support of the ASEAN proposed convention on counter-terrorism; and what steps she is taking to call for  (a) improved co-operation among ASEAN members,  (b) sharing of intelligence and counter-terrorism training and  (c) improved efforts to stop terrorism financing.

Kim Howells: We welcome the efforts the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its member states are making to counter international terrorism. We work closely with the ASEAN nations to counter terrorism through the provision of operational training and assistance to enhance the counter terrorism capabilities of individual South East Asian nations. We work on a bilateral basis rather than through the ASEAN forum.

Asia Task Force

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the budget of the Asia Task Force was for the last 12 months; what activities it has undertaken; and if she will make a statement.

Ian McCartney: The Asia Task Force itself has no allocated budget. Its recommendations are taken forward through UK Trade and Industry (UKTI) directing resources within its diplomatic network in Asia and offices in the UK, and its programme budgets in support of business in the UK, to priority areas the taskforce has asked it to address.
	The taskforce is an important forum for consulting business on how best to boost UK business engagement in Asian markets. Since its inception in October 2005, the taskforce has discussed and made recommendations on the challenges faced by UK companies operating in Asian markets and how to raise awareness among UK companies of the potential opportunities in these emerging markets.
	The taskforce has commissioned three research reports to explore differing aspects of UK-Asian Trade. This research, along with the experience of taskforce members, has informed the development of UKTI's new five year strategy: directing the focus onto large and medium sized companies in addition to its existing work with small businesses to ensure UKTI helps a wider range of companies, and instigating a shift in resources towards emerging markets. It has also led to the development of a programme which will target and support 950 mid-corporate companies which are not sufficiently engaged with Asia and which are not currently served by UKTI.
	Current Asia Task Force projects include:
	research to map the UK's sectoral strengths against demand in emerging Asian economies;
	intellectual property rights business to business forums to demonstrate the benefits of strong intellectual property protection to indigenous companies in emerging Asian markets;
	outreach events within the UK to raise awareness of the business opportunities presented by emerging Asian markets; and
	case studies of UK companies doing business in China to inform potential exporters/investors of the key issues involved.

Bermuda Regiment

Andrew MacKinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many conscripts from the Bermuda Regiment have served outside Bermuda since 2000.

Geoff Hoon: Officials from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office have been in touch with the Bermuda Regiment, which has advised that no conscript has been sent on service outside Bermuda. Since 2000, over 1,700 conscripts and volunteers have been sent on military training exercises or military training courses in overseas locations. These range from performing in the 2003 Edinburgh Tattoo to volunteering to participate in the post-hurricane clean-up in the Cayman Islands after Hurricane Ivan in 2004.

Bermuda Regiment

Andrew MacKinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on how many occasions since 2000 a leg brace has been used in respect of a Bermuda Regiment conscript; and for what purpose.

Geoff Hoon: Officials from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office have been in touch with the Bermuda Regiment who have advised that, since 2000, the leg brace was used three times in 2001 as a restraint. Leg braces were banned from use later that year.

Bermuda Regiment

Andrew MacKinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment she has made of  (a) the decision of the Governor of Bermuda to continue conscription to the Royal Bermuda Regiment for males and  (b) its impact on the UK Government's policies on (i) ethical foreign policy, (ii) equality policies and gender discrimination and (iii) UK equality legislation on the action of her Department's stewardship of Overseas Territories.

Geoff Hoon: There is widespread support in Bermuda for compulsory military service in the event of voluntary enlistment proving inadequate. In an independent public survey in Bermuda taken in 2004, 79 per cent. of those surveyed supported the continuation of conscription as currently practised. Both political parties, the governing Progressive Labour Party and the opposition United Bermuda Party, have expressed their support of conscription. Bermuda has used conscription since 1957.
	The Government see no conflict between our foreign and domestic policies and the Bermuda Defence Act.

Bermuda Regiment

Andrew MacKinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what measures have been taken to raise the quality of command and leadership in the Royal Bermuda Regiment since November 2005; and if she will make a statement.

Geoff Hoon: Officials from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office have contacted the Bermuda Regiment directly and the regiment has provided the following information:
	A training camp in the UK, with units of the British Army, is planned for later this year for officers and non-commissioned officers of the Bermuda Regiment.

Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when she intends to reply to the letter dated 27 November 2006 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Ms S. K. Singh.

Margaret Beckett: I can confirm that I replied to my right hon. Friend's letter on 9 January.

Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when she intends to reply to the letter dated 20 November 2006 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Mr Mohamed Sharif.

Margaret Beckett: I can confirm that I replied to my right hon. Friend's letter on 9 January.

Data Protection Act

Andrew MacKinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many persons have submitted requests for the disclosure of personal data held by her Department in the past two years under the provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998; and how many of these requests were from serving or former staff of her Department.

Margaret Beckett: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office received 281 requests for personal data under the provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998 in 2005 and 2006. Of these 154 were from serving or former members of staff.

Data Protection Act

Andrew MacKinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many persons have submitted requests for the disclosure of personal data held by her Department in the past two years under the provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998; how many were complied with within the 40 day statutory period; how many requests remain outstanding; and for what duration in each case.

Margaret Beckett: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office received 281 requests for personal data under the provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998 in 2005 and 2006. Of these, 243 were complied with within the 40-day statutory time limit and 17 took longer than the statutory time limit. There are currently 21 live cases, of which 20 are still within the statutory 40-day time limit. One live case has exceeded the time limit by nine days.

EU Presidency

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment she has made of the German Presidency's programme for the EU; and if she will make a statement.

Geoff Hoon: We have sustained close consultation with our German counterparts on their programme for the Presidency of the EU. We welcome in particular their focus on climate change, energy and better regulation. We also welcome efforts to take forward EU co-operation in the field of Justice and Home Affairs, in line with the Hampton Court delivery agenda.
	Germany's Presidency of the EU in 2007 is a real opportunity to show UK citizens that the EU can deliver real benefits through common action. We are working closely with our German partners to achieve this.

Intercepts

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether the Government have  (a) asked for and  (b) received from foreign Governments data from intercept activities on (i) elected UK representatives and (ii) members of the Royal household since 1 May 1997.

Margaret Beckett: I will reply to the hon. Member shortly.
	 Substantive answer from Margaret Beckett to Norman Baker:
	It is the longstanding policy of the Government not to comment on intelligence matters.

Iraq

Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions her Department has had with the Iraqi Government on the observation of the human rights of women in Iraq; and if she will make a statement.

Kim Howells: Officials from our embassy in Baghdad, and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and my right hon. Friend the Member for Cynon Valley (Ann Clwyd), as Special Envoy to the Prime Minister for Human Rights in Iraq, regularly raise women's rights with the Iraqi Government at all levels. The Iraqi Constitution provides that all people should be treated equally irrespective of their gender, race or ethnicity and includes additional provisions specifically to protect the rights of women. We are actively supporting the Government of Iraq in developing policies and legislation in line with these provisions including through work with the Ministries for Human Rights and Women's Affairs.
	Iraqi parliamentarians, women's rights activists and women's groups have told us about problems with women's access to employment and education, threats and assassinations of women professionals, the enforced wearing of the veil and other socially conservative forms of dress, and gender-based violence including honour killings and female genital mutilation.
	We are concerned about these issues and the impact of continued violence on all Iraqis. We will continue to support the Iraqi Government, security forces, judiciary and civil society organisations to develop a more secure country with a representative Government able to work for all Iraqis.

North Africa

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions she has had with her EU counterparts on immigration from North Africa into  (a) Malta and  (b) the Canary Islands.

Geoff Hoon: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary and other Ministers, including myself, have had discussions on a number of occasions with European counterparts about immigration from North Africa into Malta and the Canary Islands, including in the context of broader discussions on migration at General Affairs and External Relations Councils. Ongoing contacts continue at official and ministerial level.

Parliamentary Questions

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many parliamentary questions were tabled to her Department in 2006, broken down by  (a) ordinary written and  (b) named day; what percentage of ordinary written questions were answered within 10 working days; and what percentage of named day questions were answered by the specified date.

Margaret Beckett: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office were tabled 4,333 parliamentary questions in 2006. The following tables show a breakdown of ordinary written and named day questions:
	
		
			  Parliamentary Question  Total  Total number of questions answered within 10 days  Percentage of questions answered within 10 days 
			 Ordinary written question 3,595 3,277 91 
		
	
	
		
			  Parliamentary Question  Total  Total number of questions answered on the specified date  Percentage of questions answered on the specified date 
			 Named day question 738 571 77

Philippines

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether she has received recent reports of activity of the Abu Sayyaf terrorist organisation in the Philippines.

Kim Howells: We receive reports on the activities of terrorist organisations in south-east Asia, including the Abu Sayyaf Group, on a regular basis.

Portland Trust

Mark Francois: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs 
	(1)  what the  (a) date and  (b) purpose was of each meeting held with representatives of the Portland Trust by her Department in the last three years;
	(2)  what payments have been made by her Department to the Portland Trust since 2003.

Kim Howells: We have made no payment to the Portland Trust since 2003. Foreign and Commonwealth Office Officials have met a wide range of stakeholders, including the Portland Trust, on a number of occasions over the past three years to discuss the economic aspects of peace in the Middle East. On 28 September 2005, I met Eival Giladi, formerly Head of Co-ordination and Strategy in the Israeli Prime Minister's Office and a Director of the Portland Trust, during my visit to the region to discuss disengagement from Gaza. It is not the Government's policy to provide details of such meetings.

Royal Mail

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much her Department spent using Royal Mail in each of the last five years.

Geoff Hoon: In 2006 the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) spent 210,978 on postage with the Royal Mail.
	In 2005 the amount spent was 233,788 and in 2004 the FCO spent 167, 878 (this was for the period April to December 2004 only). We are unable to provide details prior to April 2004, as this information is not available.

Sri Lanka

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent representations she has made to the Government of Sri Lanka on the human rights of the Tamil minority in that country; and if she will make a statement.

Kim Howells: The UK is deeply concerned about the continuing deterioration of the human rights situation and the increasing violence in Sri Lanka, and particularly about the impact of continuing violence and military actions by the Sri Lankan Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on the civilian population. This has already claimed the lives of at least 40 civilians this year.
	We strongly endorse the UN's recent call for all civilians in Sri Lanka to be protected. We understand that there are at least 15,000 civilians in the Vakarai area who are in a desperate situation. As a minimum, there should be a cessation of hostilities around Vakarai to allow the International Committee of the Red Cross and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to send in humanitarian supplies to the people there.
	Both the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE must cease military action and implement the agreements they had reached to reduce the violence. Recent incidents demonstrate that neither side is protecting the civilian population. We urge them to return to the negotiating table in order to prevent further deterioration of the security situation and the needless loss of more lives.
	On 10 January, my right hon. Friend the Minister of State for Trade, Investment and Foreign Affairs, Ian McCartney, who has responsibility for human rights in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, reiterated our concerns at a meeting with his Sri Lankan ministerial counterpart. My hon. Friend the Member for Harrow, West (Mr. Thomas), the Under-Secretary of State for International Development, also raised these issues with the visiting Minister.

COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

CFOA (Services) Ltd.

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what payments were made by  (a) her Department and  (b) its agencies to CFOA (Services) Ltd in each of the financial years for which figures are available; what the purpose was of each payment; what payments the Department has agreed to make in future; and for what purpose in each case.

Angela Smith: Payments made by this Department, or its predecessor Departments, to CFOA (Services) Ltd. have been as follows during recent financial years:
	
		
			
			 2002-03 82,839.11 
			 2003-04 158,311.62 
			 2004-05 358,847.45 
			 2005-06 13,324.97 
			 2006-07 5,043.69 
		
	
	The main purposes for payments included support to infrastructure and communications, co-ordinating working groups to carry out strategic project work, attendances at conferences, and payment of part of the annual grant in respect of the Practitioners' Forum. Records for the attribution of individual payments are not retrievable within the time available.
	The Department does not currently have in place any agreements to make further grant payments to CFOA (Services) Ltd in the future.
	Payments have been made to CFOA (Services) Ltd by the Fire Service College, as an agency of the Department, as follows:
	
		
			
			 2002-03 5,017.25 
			 2003-04 5,017.25 
			 2004-05 5,763.38 
			 2005-06 44,875.80 
			 2006-07 1,354.78 
		
	
	The main purposes for payments were subscriptions and attendances at conferences. In 2005-06 a staff secondment was also involved.

Construction Products Directive

Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will provide additional resources to ensure that the Construction Products Directive is complied with in a uniform and consistent manner.

Angela Smith: Under the Construction Products Regulations 1991 as amended it falls to local authorities to provide adequate resources to ensure compliance with the Construction Products Directive.

Departmental Communications

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government for what reason her Department's email news alert service is closing; and if she will make a statement.

Angela Smith: The Department's email news alert service was closed on 23 November 2006 in a move to RSS news feeds, supported by existing alternative email alerts from info41ocal.gov.uk and the Government News Network (GNN) at www.gnn.gov.uk. This is in line with the requirement to rationalise Government web services under the Transformational Government strategy. Subscribers to the Department's alert were forewarned of the closure and advised to register to receive one of the alternative free services via two emails on separate days prior to closure of the service. Subscribers may now opt to receive Departmental updates via:
	RSS news feeds
	the cross-government info41ocal email alert service
	GNN email alerts
	Full details of how to access the Department's news feeds and alerts is held on the corporate website at http://www.communities.gov.uk/newsfeeds

Domestic Violence

Eric Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what funding her Department has provided for high-security safe rooms to be built in the homes of victims of domestic violence.

Meg Munn: Decisions about funding Sanctuary Schemes are local decisions and local authorities have a number of funding options available to them. For example, schemes could be funded through a local authority's Private Sector Renewal Strategy. In the case of social housing the funding could come from the landlord. The police or the Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership may have grants, or one-off funding to target crime reduction which could be directed to funding Sanctuary Schemes.
	My Department has allocated 47.2 million to local authorities to help them further tackle and prevent homelessness in their area for 2007-08. They may choose to use a proportion of this money to fund Sanctuary Schemes. A survey conducted by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister found that 120 local authorities already had a Sanctuary Scheme in place and that a further 165 local authorities were planning to have one in place by the end of March 2007.
	Guidance published entitled Options for Setting Up a Sanctuary Scheme covers funding issues.

Government Office for London

Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many staff worked for the Government Office for London in  (a) 1997 and  (b) 2006.

Angela Smith: The Government Office for London staffing figures for 1997 and 2006 are as follows:
	
		
			   Number 
			 1997 (1)274 
			 2006 (2)273 
			 (1) March  (2) This is based on staffing levels as at 31 December 2006. In line with the Treasury review of the GO network, GOL plans to reduce its staffing to approximately 250 by December 2008.

Local Government Finance

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the total amount of borrowing on  (a) council housing and  (b) arm's length management organisations was in each year since 1990; what proportion of the public spending borrowing requirement this represents in each year; and what estimate she has made of each for the next 10 years.

Yvette Cooper: The net amount of borrowing on council housing and arm's length management organisations since 1992-93, as well as the proportion of public sector net borrowing that that represents for each year, is set out in the following table.
	
		
			   Net HRA borrowing ()  ALMO borrowing ()  Public sector net borrowing (PSNB) ()  HRA borrowing/PSNB (percentage)  ALMO Borrowing/PSNB (percentage) 
			 1992-93   46,716,000,000   
			 1993-94 347,455,678  51,054,000,000 0.68  
			 1994-95 431,792,337  43,271,000,000 1.00  
			 1995-96 -170,209,016  34,713,000,000 -0.49  
			 1996-97 -435,801,552  27,170,000,000 -1.60  
			 1997-98 -504,249,410  6,374,000,000 -7.91  
			 1998-99 -678,146,182  -4,017,000,000 16.88  
			 1999-2000 -542,751,024  -16,251,000,000 3.34  
			 2000-01 -880,453,782  -19,896,000,000 4.43  
			 2001-02 -14,679,989  921,000,000 -1.59  
			 2002-03 -1,166,619,645 56,000,000 24,916,000,000 -4.68 0.22 
			 2003-04 -2,415,662,009 321,000,000 34,094,000,000 -7.09 0.94 
			 2004-05 -1,120,419,927 577,000,000 39,189,000,000 -2.86 1.47 
			 2005-06 418,022,901 854,000,000 37,516,000,000 1.11 2.28 
			 2006-07 1,212,183,164 845,000,000 35,848,615,071 3.38 2.36 
			  Notes:  1. The Arm's Length Management Organisation (ALMO) borrowing shown is the level of borrowing supported by the Government, rather than the actual level of borrowing entered into by the local authority. It is part of, rather than additional to, council house borrowing. 2. From 2001-02 onwards the Department did not collect data on local authority borrowing for council housing from those authorities with no notional housing debt (used in calculating HRA subsidy entitlement) 
		
	
	The figures are unaudited and based on claims submitted by local authorities. The Department for Communities and Local Government cannot provide forecasts beyond the end of 2007-08 because that would pre-judge CSR07 and subsequent spending reviews.

Local Government Staff

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many local government staff, excluding police officers, teachers and firefighters, were employed by local authorities collectively in  (a) 1996-97 and  (b) the most recent year for which figures are available.

John Healey: I have been asked to reply.
	The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
	 Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 17 January 2007:
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question about numbers of local government staff. (114462)
	The information is not available in the form requested. There were an estimated 2,740,000 people in total employed in local government in June 1996 and 2,734,000 in June 1997. The latest comparable annual figure is 2,942,000 on average, for the year to September 2006. The available figures for teachers and police officers, as published for example in an article 'Public Sector Employment Trends 2005' (http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/article.asp?id=1293), and the available figures for fire service staff, cannot be broken down reliably, in a sufficiently complete and comparable way across all parts of the UK, as would be required to exclude these categories from the local government totals.

Millennium Dome

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many staff work full-time on the Millennium Dome territory, as referred to on page 127 of her Department's annual report for 2006, broken down by pay grade.

Angela Smith: English Partnerships has 11 (full-time equivalents) staff members working on Greenwich Peninsula Projects, including the Greenwich Millennium Village. Of these, three are support staff, two are pier managers and one is a security manager. The remaining five cover specialist roles including development and estate management. In addition, an area director at English Partnerships includes within his responsibilities delivery of the Meridian Delta Ltd and Anschutz Entertainment Group scheme.

Neighbourhood Renewal

Alistair Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much funding each neighbourhood renewal area in England received directly from her Department and its predecessor to support regeneration projects in each year from 2001-02 to 2005-06; what funding has been allocated to each local authority for the same purpose in 2006-07 and 2007-08; to which programmes within each neighbourhood renewal area funding has been allocated; and how much was allocated to each programme.

Phil Woolas: The Department for Communities and Local Government and its predecessors, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) and the Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions (DTLR), provided 3.208 billion in direct funding to 90 neighbourhood renewal areas in England from 2001-02 to 2005-06, and has allocated 1.564 billion for the period 2006-07 to 2007-08. Total funding for the period 2001-02 to 2007-08 is 4.772 billion. A detailed breakdown of funding provided to each neighbourhood renewal area and the allocations for each local authority and each programme has been placed in the Library of the House.

Private Finance Initiative

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the long-term costs and liabilities arising from private finance initiative credits are in the Joint Service Centre programme.

Angela Smith: Current long-term costs and liabilities arising from private finance initiative credits in the Joint Service Centre programme are assessed as being approximately 426 million over the duration of the projects.

Sub-national Statistics

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the purpose is of the Regional Co-ordination Unit's proposed knowledge network briefing engine for sub-national statistics; and how much it is expected to cost.

Angela Smith: The Regional Co-ordination Unit does not have any proposals relating to sub-national statistics for its knowledge network briefing engine. The purpose of the knowledge network briefing engine, which was launched in 2002, is to produce compact briefing documents called Fact Files on regions and major cities in England for Ministers to use on regional visits. Although originally built by Cabinet Office, the briefing engine system is now maintained externally. The RCU contributes 30,000 a year towards the maintenance of the system.

Valuation Office Agency

Eric Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  what training  (a) material and  (b) manuals are available for Valuation Office Agency staff on its intranet;
	(2)  if she will place in the Library copies of the Valuation Office Agency's intranet HR learning pages and training events catalogue;
	(3)  pursuant to the answer of 11 December 2006,  Official Report, column 906W, on the Valuation Office Agency, if she will place in the Library the last edition produced of the agency's training and development (human resources) manual.

Dawn Primarolo: I have been asked to reply.
	The training events catalogue, on the Valuation Office Agency's intranet, has replaced the training and development manual. The catalogue allows staff to see what events are being held, where they will be held and whether there are any places available.
	A copy of the Valuation Office Agency's learning home page has been placed in the Library. Copies of all the attached documents could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS

Courts

John Hayes: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what the cost to the public purse resulting from non-attendance at court was in each of the last five years.

Harriet Harman: Non-attendance in a civil court will not generally give rise to a cost to the public purse. The cost of the hearing will have been paid for in advance by the litigants through the fee charging system.
	The cost of the non-attendance of defendants in criminal prosecutions in the Crown Court for Her Majesty's Courts Service in 2005-06 is estimated at 5.4 million. Other agencies such as the Crown Prosecution Service and the Legal Services Commission will also incur costs as a consequence.
	Information prior to 1 April 2005 and information relating to magistrates courts is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Courts

John Hayes: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what the cost was of  (a) failed cases and  (b) cases where the jury had to be changed in 2005-06.

Harriet Harman: Information in the format requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Engagements

George Galloway: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs on what dates Ministers in her Department and its predecessors made official visits to the London boroughs of  (a) Tower Hamlets,  (b) Newham and  (c) Waltham Forest in each year since 1997.

Bridget Prentice: The most recent visit made by a Minister from this Department involved a speech given by the Minister of State in Bethnal Green on 14 September 2005. Information on visits made prior to the 2005 general election is not held centrally and would not be available without the incurring of disproportionate costs.

Judicial Pensions

John Hayes: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what the cost of changes to payments to judicial pensions schemes due to changes in pension taxation in 1997 has been.

Harriet Harman: The estimated cost to the Department of the changes following the non-registration of the judicial pensions scheme for the purposes of the Finance Act 2004 is 9.6 million for 2007-08.

Legal Aid

John Hayes: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what the 10 highest awards, by value, of legal aid were in 2005-06.

Vera Baird: The information requested is not readily available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Legal Aid

Christopher Fraser: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs 
	(1)  what changes have been made to the draft unified legal services contract as a result of the consultation on legal aid reform;
	(2)  when the payment annex to the new unified contract will be published by the Legal Services Commission.

Vera Baird: The unified contract will be introduced from April 2007 for all civil, family and immigration providers, including the not-for-profit sector. The LSC published draft new contract documents in October 2006 and is still in discussion with representative bodies about contract terms.
	The payment annex will reflect new rates of remuneration to be introduced from October 2007. The new rates have not yet been finalised, but the LSC is expecting to publish the payment annexe in the summer.

Magistrates Courts

Alan Beith: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs whether it is Government policy to withdraw facilities for the payment of fines on magistrates court premises.

Harriet Harman: The Government's objective is to provide a standardised set of payment methods that are both flexible and accessible for all court users, including fine payers. My Department will achieve this through the Modernising Money Handling programme, which is currently reviewing the methods of payment available.

Parliamentary Questions

Theresa May: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs 
	(1)  how many written parliamentary questions to her Department in the 2005-06 Session were answered with a referral back to previous answers;
	(2)  how many written parliamentary questions to her Department in the 2005-06 session were not answered  (a) wholly and  (b) in part on disproportionate cost grounds.

Vera Baird: All parliamentary questions to my Department in the 2005-06 Session received an answer. To break this information down into answers on referral and disproportionate cost grounds would involve officials checking every parliamentary question received during the 2005-06 Session. This in itself would incur disproportionate cost.

Parliamentary Questions

Theresa May: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs 
	(1)  how many written parliamentary questions to her Department in the 2005-06 session did not receive an answer;
	(2)  how many written parliamentary questions to her Department in the 2005-06 session were answered with a reply that it had not been possible to reply before Prorogation.

Vera Baird: All parliamentary questions to my Department in the 2005-06 Session received an answer. No parliamentary questions were answered with a reply stating that it had not been possible to reply before Prorogation.

Public Appointments

Greg Pope: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what the  (a) salary scale and  (b) term of appointment are for (i) a local government boundary commissioner for England and (ii) a parliamentary boundary commissioner for England.

Bridget Prentice: In respect of a parliamentary boundary commissioner for England, these positions are not salaried. Normal commissioners are remunerated at a daily fee rate agreed with the Treasury. The current rate is 475 per day, plus reimbursement of reasonable travel and subsistence incurred on Boundary Commission business. The deputy chair receives only reimbursement of travel and subsistence costs. The term of appointment of parliamentary boundary commissioners will vary depending on the circumstances, but any appointment will generally not exceed four years, and consecutive appointments of the same individual will not exceed a total of 10 years' service on the Commission.
	Appointment of local government boundary commissioners in England is a matter for the Electoral Commission.

Public Appointments

Greg Pope: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many and what percentage of  (a) the parliamentary boundary commissioners for England and  (b) the local government boundary commissioners for England are qualified lawyers.

Bridget Prentice: In respect of parliamentary boundary commissioners for England, excluding the ex officio post of chair held by the Speaker of the House of Commons, two of the three other members of the commission are qualified lawyers.
	Appointment of local government boundary commissioners in England is a matter for the Electoral Commission.

HEALTH

Abortion

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many abortions were carried out in the Lincolnshire health authority area on girls aged  (a) under 16 and  (b) under 18 in each year since 1999.

Caroline Flint: The available information is set out in the following table.
	
		
			  Number of abortions to women under 18, resident in Lincolnshire( 1)  PCT, 2002( 2)  - 2005 
			  Lincolnshire  Age under 16  Age under 18 
			 2002 44 182 
			 2003 38 203 
			 2004 48 205 
			 2005 30 179 
			 (1) Information by PCT is not available prior to 2002  (2) Lincolnshire PCT is made up of East Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire South West Teaching and West Lincolnshire PCTs as published between 2002 and 2005

Berkshire West PCT

Robert Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many females in the Berkshire West primary care trust  (a) under the age of 15 and  (b) aged between 15 and 18 (i) had abortions and (ii) gave birth in each year since 1999.

Caroline Flint: Figures are provided on number of conceptions leading to maternities and abortions for girls aged under 16 and girls aged under 18 from 1999 to 2004 (latest year for which figures are available) so that meaningful comparisons can be made on number of abortions and maternities that occur each year by age of woman. Figures for girls aged under 15 and 15 to 18 are not readily available and can be provided only at a disproportionate cost. In addition, figures for girls aged under 15 are likely to be very small at primary care trust level and hence would not be provided to preserve individuals' confidentiality.
	
		
			  Conceptions leading to maternities and abortions by age to residents of West Berkshire PCT, 1999 to 2004 
			   Conceptions leading to maternity  Conceptions leading to abortion  Total conceptions 
			  Girls aged under 16
			 1999 28 45 73 
			 2000 30 36 66 
			 2001 31 27 58 
			 2002 18 31 49 
			 2003 31 29 60 
			 2004 21 42 63 
			 
			  Girls aged under 18
			 1999 158 138 296 
			 2000 165 144 309 
			 2001 146 139 285 
			 2002 138 133 271 
			 2003 141 132 273 
			 2004 137 154 291

Berkshire West PCT

Robert Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many females in the Berkshire West primary care trust  (a) under the age of 15 and  (b) aged between 15 and 18 were diagnosed with sexually transmitted infections in each year since 1999.

Caroline Flint: Diagnoses of sexually transmitted infections in the NHS South Central area for females under the age of 15 and aged between 15 to 19 in each year since 1999 are shown in the table.
	Number of diagnoses at primary care trust level is not released in order to reduce the risk of deductive disclosure where numbers of diagnoses are small.
	
		
			   Females under 15  Females 15 to 19 
			 1999 33 1,704 
			 2000 25 1,861 
			 2001 30 1,845 
			 2002 40 1,974 
			 2003 46 2,276 
			 2004 27 2,314 
			 2005 36 2,425 
			  Source: STI KC60 statutory returns from 1999 to 2005, Health Protection Agency. Selected STIs include: infectious syphilis, uncomplicated gonorrhoea, anogenital herpes simplex (first attack), anogenital warts (first attack) and uncomplicated chlamydial infection.

Choosing Health

Andrew Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 13 December 2006,  Official Report, column 1160, on choosing health, what the core health trainer competencies are.

Caroline Flint: With reference to the core health trainers competences, a copy of the document is available in the Library.

Departmental Redundancies

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many redundancies there were in her Department in each year since 1996-97; and what the cost was of such redundancies in each year.

Ivan Lewis: holding answer 15 January 2007
	The numbers of redundancies and costs of redundancies since 2004-05 are shown in the following table:
	
		
			   Number of redundancies  Cost of redundancies  ( million) 
			 2004-05 200 23.1 
			 2005-06 33 6.5 
			 2006-07 (to date) 30 3.2 
		
	
	Redundancy numbers and expenditure for earlier years could be established only at disproportionate cost.
	The figures include both compulsory redundancies arising from the Department's major change programme that began in early 2003 and the more substantial number and cost of voluntary early retirements/severances that the Department offered some employees in order to minimise the need for compulsory redundancies. They also include a small number of exits that were not linked to the change programme.

Drug Abuse

David Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether her Department has given financial support to drug education or treatment programmes by Narconon during the last five years.

Caroline Flint: The Department has given no funding to Narconon in the last five years.

Drug Risks

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much has been spent on advertising the risks associated with  (a) Class A,  (b) Class B and  (c) Class C drugs in each year since 1997.

Caroline Flint: The FRANK drug information campaign was launched in May 2003, providing young people and their families with advice and information about all drugs. The campaign is administered and funded jointly by this Department, the Home Office and the Department for Education and Skills. Joint spend on all paid-for advertising on FRANK is shown in table 1. The joint total spend across the whole campaign, is shown in table 2.
	
		
			  Table 1 
			million 
			 2003-04 3.7 
			 2004-05 1.9 
			 2005-06 1.8 
			 2006-07 (1)4.57 
			 (1 )Estimated 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 2 
			million 
			 2003-04 4.25 
			 2004-05 4.3 
			 2005-06 6.17 
			 2006-07 (1)9.18 
			 (1 )Estimated 
		
	
	The Department did not directly allocate money for advertising on drug misuse prior to 2003.

Food Standards Agency

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the division of responsibilities is between her Department and the Food Standards Agency on providing policy advice to Ministers on nutrition.

Caroline Flint: The division of responsibilities on nutrition issues between the Department and the Food Standards Agency (FSA) is set out in the concordat between the FSA and the Department of June 2000.
	The FSA is responsible for, among other things, the provision of scientifically based information about the nutritional content of individual foods and impartial advice on a balanced diet. The Department remains responsible for the wider public health policy issues where nutritional status is one of a number of risk factors. Both departments work closely together to ensure they discharge effectively responsibilities in the area of nutrition.

Food Standards Agency

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make a statement on the appointment of the Chief Executive of the Food Standards Agency.

Caroline Flint: John Harwood was appointed as interim chief executive of the Food Standards Agency from 3 April 2006 pending the appointment of a substantive chief executive. However, following an open competition held during the first half of last year no appointment was made to the post. The Civil Service Commissioners subsequently extended Mr Harwood's appointment for a period up to two years from April 2006 until another open recruitment exercise can take place.

Food Standards Agency

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the division of responsibilities is between the Chair and the Chief Executive of the Food Standards Agency.

Caroline Flint: Under sections 1 to 3 of the Food Standards Act 1999, the chair of the Food Standards Agency is responsible for ensuring that the agency carries out its functions to protect public health from risks which may arise in connection with the consumption of food, including risks caused by the way in which it is produced or supplied and otherwise to protect the interests of consumers in relation to food. The chief executive is responsible for, among other things, ensuring that the activities of the agency are carried out efficiently and effectively.

Health Risks: Chemical Exposure

Martin Horwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what her assessment is of the health risks related to exposure to  (a) potassium hydroxide,  (b) manganese dioxide,  (c) zinc mercury,  (d) lead dioxide,  (e) metallic lead,  (f) dilute sulphuric acid,  (g) silver oxide,  (h) mercuric oxide,  (i) sodium hydroxide,  (j) lithium and  (k) lithium perchlorate; and if she will make a statement;
	(2)  what her assessment is of the health risks related to exposure to  (a) propylene carbonate,  (b) dimethoxyethane,  (c) thionyl chloride,  (d) lithium aluminium chloride,  (e) bromine chloride,  (f) sulphuryl chloride,  (g) sulphur dioxide,  (h) acetonitrile,  (i) lithium bromide,  (j) carbon monoflouride,  (k) lithium tetroflouroborate,  (l) gamma-butyrol actone,  (m) iodine,  (n) silver chromate and  (o) vanadium pentoxide; and if she will make a statement;
	(3)  what her assessment is of the health risks related to exposure to  (a) lithium hexafluorophosphate,  (b) lithium hexaflouroarsenate,  (c) copper oxide,  (d) copper oxyphosphate,  (e) copper sulphide,  (f) lead sulphide,  (g) iron sulphide,  (h) dioxolane,  (i) iron disulphide,  (j) lead bismuthate,  (k) bismuth trioxide,  (l) cobalt dioxide,  (m) copper chloride and  (n) carbon; and if she will make a statement;
	(4)  what her assessment is of the health risks related to exposure to  (a) nickel hydroxide,  (b) nickel oxide,  (c) potassium hydroxide,  (d) metal hydrides,  (e) cadmium,  (f) cadmium salts,  (g) nickel salts,  (h) cobalt salts,  (i) lithium salts,  (j) ammonium chloride and  (k) zinc chloride; and if she will make a statement.

Caroline Flint: Assessment of the health risks of chemicals requires evaluation of the toxicological data in the context of the relevant amount and route of exposure. Authoritative reviews of the toxicological data for numerous chemicals are published by international organisations such as the International Programme on Chemical Safety (IPCS, a joint World Health Organisation (WHO)/International Labour Organisation/United Nations Environment Programme venture) and WHO (air and water quality guidelines). Various groups in the United Kingdom including expert advisory committees (the committee on carcinogenicity of chemicals in food, consumer products and the environment, the committee on mutagenicity of chemicals in food, consumer products and the environment, the committee on toxicity of chemicals in food, consumer products and the environment, and the committee on the medical effects of air pollutants) and agencies (such as the Health Protection Agency) also make such assessments, as, indeed do agencies in other countries, such as the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry in the United States of America.

Medical Research

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what criteria will be used to assess the UK's standing as a world centre for medical research.

Caroline Flint: The Government measure the performance of the United Kingdom research base using the indicators described in the Office of Science and Innovation's publication PSA target metrics for the UK research base, which is available at www.dti.gov.uk/files/file27330.pdf.
	The main research fields covered by the analysis include clinical sciences and pre-clinical and health related sciences.

National Radiotherapy Advisory Group

John Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when she expects the national radiotherapy advisory group to deliver its report to Ministers; and when she plans to make the report publicly available.

Rosie Winterton: holding answer 16 January 2007
	The national radiotherapy advisory group is in the process of finalising its report and we expect to receive it shortly. As the report is intended to be advice to Ministers, no decisions have been taken at this stage on plans for wider public dissemination.

NHS Finance

Robert Flello: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what action she proposes to take to hold the senior management and the board at the University hospital of North Staffordshire to account should they be unable to balance the hospital's budget by March 2007;
	(2)  what action she proposes to take to hold the senior management and the board of the Stoke-on-Trent primary care trust should they be unable to balance the PCT's budget by March 2007;
	(3)  what action she proposes to take to hold the senior management and the board in the West Midlands strategic health authority to account should they be unable to balance the SHA's budget by March 2007.

Caroline Flint: Achieving financial balance is a key priority for all national health service organisations including the University hospital of North Staffordshire, Stoke-on-Trent primary care trust and the West Midlands strategic health authority (SHA).
	The Department is working with all NHS organisations in deficit through SHAs to improve their financial position. While we are focusing on returning overspending organisations to balance, we accept that this might not be possible for all deficit organisations this financial year.
	Where NHS organisations are not able to achieve financial balance, our performance and turnaround teams will continue to work with them, with the aim of rectifying this for the future.

Obesity

Ashok Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research she has commissioned on the link between a high intake of fruit juices and obesity.

Caroline Flint: The Department has not commissioned and has no immediate plans to commission specific research on the effects of high intake of fruit juices and obesity. The Food Standards Agency has information on the health value of fruit juices on the 'Eat well, be well' section of their website at www.eatwell.gov.uk.

Obesity

Ashok Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many children aged between five and 11 were overweight or obese in each year for which figures are available since 1985.

Caroline Flint: The main source of data on the prevalence of obesity and overweight among children is the Health Survey for England. Data are only available for children in age groups 11 to 15, two to 15 and two to 10 in accordance with the obesity public service agreement. The following table sets out the most recent data on the prevalence of overweight and obesity in children aged two to 10, between 1995 and 2005.
	
		
			  Overweight and obesity prevalence among children, by year and gender, 1995 to 2005, England 
			   1995  1996  1997  1998  1999  2000  2001  2002 
			  Boys, aged two to 10 
			 Overweight 12.9 13.8 13.1 14.6 14.1 13.6 15.6 13.3 
			 Obese 9.6 11.0 11.1 11.4 16.1 12.2 13.5 15.2 
			 Overweight including obese 22.5 24.8 24.3 26.0 30.2 25.8 29.1 28.5 
			  
			  Girls, aged two to 10 
			 Overweight 12.6 11.0 12.0 12.5 13.5 11.6 14.0 13.1 
			 Obese 10.3 10.2 10.7 11.8 13.0 11.8 12.7 15.8 
			 Overweight including obese 22.9 21.2 22.6 24.3 26.5 23.3 26.7 28.9 
			  
			  Bases (weighted) 
			 Boys 1,261 1,418 2,007 7,336 633 570 1,035 2,364 
			 Girls 1,266 1,365 2,082 1,216 628 523 1,094 2,290 
		
	
	
		
			   Unweighted( 1)  Weighted 
			   2003  2004  2005  2003  2004  2005 
			  Boys, aged two to 10   
			 Overweight 14.7 14.2 16.5 14.6 14.6 16.1 
			 Obese 14.9 16.2 16.6 15.1 15.9 16.9 
			 Overweight including obese 29.6 30.4 33.1 29.7 30.5 33.0 
			
			  Girls, aged two to 10   
			 Overweight 13.4 14.2 12.2 13.4 14.8 12.2 
			 Obese 12.5 11.9 16.7 12.4 12.8 16.8 
			 Overweight including obese 25.9 26.1 28.9 25.8 27.7 29.0 
			
			  Bases (weighted)   
			 Boys 876 416 695 878 379 664 
			 Girls 897 343 724 858 346 674 
			 (1) From 2003 data were also weighted for non response. Data weighted for child selection only are provided for consistency with previous years.  Source: Health Survey for England 2005updating of trend tables to include 2005 data. The Information Centre

Obesity

Ashok Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment her Department has made of the link between obesity and  (a) diabetes type II and  (b) free sugar intake in liquid form.

Caroline Flint: The message that obesity is a major contributor to type 2 diabetes is highlighted in the Chief Medical Officer's report 'At least five a week' and the 'Choosing Health' White Paper. Evidence suggests that obesity is responsible for 47 per cent. of cases of type 2 diabetes.
	The Department has not made an assessment on the link between obesity and free sugar intake in liquid form. However, the Government are in discussion with stakeholders, including the food industry, to develop a strategy to enable consumers to achieve energy balance. The levels of sugars in some foods and drinks are being explored as part of this strategy.

Obesity

Ashok Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment her Department has made of sugar substitution in addressing obesity; and if she will make a statement.

Caroline Flint: The causes of obesity are multi-factorial. The Department has no current plans to assess the specific implications on obesity from sugar substitution. However, the Government are in discussion with stakeholders, including the food industry, to develop a strategy to enable consumers to achieve energy balance; the level of sugars in some foods is being explored as part of this strategy.

Obesity

Ashok Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research she has commissioned into the link between obesity and cancer in  (a) adults and  (b) children.

Caroline Flint: There has been no research commissioned by the Department on links between obesity and cancer in either adults or children. However, the Department recognises the summary research evidence available from studies in the United Kingdom, which shows that the risk of a number of cancers is increased by obesity, including breast cancer, cancer of the endometrium, uterus, cervix, ovary and gall bladder in women and cancer of the rectum and prostate in men.

Pathogens

Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps her Department is taking to detect and identify pathogens that pose threats to livestock in the United Kingdom.

Caroline Flint: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him by the Minister for Local Environment, Marine and Animal Welfare, my hon. Friend the Member for Exeter (Mr. Bradshaw) on 8 January 2007,  Official Report, columns 267-68W.

Public Health

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of funding of each primary care trust was spent on public health in the last 12 months.

Caroline Flint: Estimates of primary care trust expenditure on public health are available from the healthy individuals category in the programme budgeting returns. Expenditure in this category covers immunisation, screening and general/routine health examinations. However, not all spend on public health will necessarily be picked up in this category.
	The net spend on healthy individuals as a proportion of total net operating expenditure, for each primary care trust in England for the financial year 2005-06, has been placed in the Library.

Skin Cancer

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what steps her Department is taking to raise awareness of skin cancer;
	(2)  what steps her Department is taking to reduce the prevalence of skin cancer cases in the UK;
	(3)  in what ways her Department is working with the Department for Education and Skills to ensure young people are adequately informed about the causes and dangers of skin cancer;
	(4)  in what ways her Department is working with the Department for Trade and Industry to promote awareness of the dangers of skin cancer amongst outdoor workers.

Caroline Flint: The Department of Health and the other United Kingdom Health Departments have for the last three years commissioned Cancer Research UK to run SunSmart, the national skin cancer prevention and sun protection campaign. The campaign includes raising both public and professional awareness of skin cancer by providing information about skin cancer and its early detection, and by providing guidance on preventative measures to reduce its risk. The campaign raises awareness through support for health promotion events, the provision of printed resources, media briefings and the SunSmart website. By so doing, and by targeting specific at-risk groups, the campaign aims to reduce the prevalence of skin cancer.
	Cancer Research UK and the Department have worked with other departments and organisations in raising awareness of issues related to skin cancer and in developing the SunSmart campaign.
	The campaign has helped schools to develop their own sun protection policies through school guidelines and curriculum resources for use in the classroom. The healthy schools programme, a joint Department of Health and Department for Education and Skills initiative, is currently building a new website. This will signpost advice and good practice on a range of health matters which can be made available to schools including the dangers caused to children at school by excessive exposure to sunlight. Cancer Research UK also consulted extensively with the Health and Safety Executive in developing the prevention campaign for men and outdoor workers.

Smoke-free Legislation

Eric Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the funding provided to local authorities to support the implementation of smoke-free legislation set out in Local Authority Circular LAC 2006(17) includes provision for potential increased costs of street cleaning.

Caroline Flint: Funding provided to local authorities is set out in this circular to enable them to build compliance with the smoke free regulations to take enforcement action. It is for local authorities to decide how best to use these resources in their own areas.

Strategic Health Authorities

Robert Walter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate she has made of the number of staff who have been  (a) made redundant,  (b) redeployed and  (c) offered early retirement as a result of the amalgamation of strategic health authorities; and what estimate she has made of the costs of this action.

Rosie Winterton: Information on the number of redundancies is collected from NHS organisations and published on a quarterly basis. Information on the numbers and costs of staff redeployed or offered early retirement is not collected centrally.
	As at 30 September 2006, there have been two compulsory redundancies in strategic health authorities.

Tanning Beds

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what mechanisms are in place to control the unsupervised use of tanning beds and coin-operated tanning machines by under-16s.

Caroline Flint: There are at present no specific mechanisms or regulations that relate to the use of unsupervised/coin-operated sunbeds by under-16s. However the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has issued guidance which advises against use by those under 16. Cancer Research UK has also worked with representatives of the industry to help improve information for both staff and customers. That includes the displaying, of information specifically discouraging the use of sunbeds by young people under 16. In the light of concerns about unsupervised tanning salons and coin-operated sunbeds, the Department is planning further discussions with the HSE and other stakeholders to see whether the existing guidance aimed at sunbed operators and customers needs to be strengthened.

Teenage Pregnancy

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of whether the conception rate for girls under 18 years of age is on course to decrease by 50 per cent. by 2010, as announced in Choosing Health in 2004.

Beverley Hughes: I have been asked to reply.
	We have made steady progress in reducing teenage pregnancies since the Teenage Pregnancy Strategy was launched in 1999. Between 1998 (the baseline year for the strategy) and 2004 (the latest year for which data are available) the under-18 conception rate has fallen by 11.1 per cent. and the under-16 rate has fallen by 15.2 per cent. Both rates are now at their lowest level since the mid-1980s. However, we need to accelerate progress to achieve the challenging PSA target to halve the under-18 conception rate by 2010.
	Progress in local areas is variable, with some areas seeing significant reductions in their rates, while in other areas rates are static or increasing. That is why we have issued detailed delivery guidance to local authorities and PCTs setting out what has worked in areas with sharply declining rates. All areas have been asked to review their local strategies in the light of these findings and reflect them in their forward plans. We have also provided new analysis on the underlying factors that increase the risk of teenage pregnancy, to help local areas target their strategies in high-rate neighbourhoods and on young people at greatest risk.

Trans Fats

Andrew Pelling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps are being taken by the Department to reduce the use of trans fats.

Caroline Flint: The Food Standards Agency welcomes and encourages the voluntary initiatives some businesses have undertaken to reduce the trans fats levels in their food products. However, any product reformulation to reduce the levels of trans fats (generally through the removal of partially hydrogenated vegetable oil) should not result in increases in the saturated fat levels in foods. Dietary intakes of trans fats are well within maximum recommended intakes, whereas saturated fat intakes currently exceed public health recommendations. Consequently saturated fat intakes represent the greater heart health risk and remain the priority.

Tuberculosis

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many tuberculosis infections there were in each year since 1979.

Caroline Flint: The number of notified cases of tuberculosis in England and Wales for each year from 1979 to 2005 is provided in the following table.
	
		
			   Total number of notifications 
			 1979 9,266 
			 1980 9,142 
			 1981 8,128 
			 1982 7,406 
			 1983 6,800 
			 1984 6,141 
			 1985 5,857 
			 1986 5,992 
			 1987 5,085 
			 1988 5,161 
			 1989 5,432 
			 1990 5,204 
			 1991 5,436 
			 1992 5,798 
			 1993 5,920 
			 1994 5,590 
			 1995 5,606 
			 1996 5,654 
			 1997 5,859 
			 1998 6,087 
			 1999 6,144 
			 2000 6,572 
			 2001 6,714 
			 2002 6,753 
			 2003 6,518 
			 2004 6,723 
			 2005 7,628 
			  Notes: 1. Notified cases of tuberculosis are diagnosed on the basis of clinical and/or microbiological findings.  2. There are no data on the number of symptomless people who are infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis because there are no validated tests that can be used to screen large numbers of people. These people cannot transmit tuberculosis to others, but can later develop active tuberculosis disease and then may transmit infection to other people.  Source:  Health Protection Agency (HPA) Statutory Notification of Infectious Diseases (NOIDs)